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ERSON HISTORY
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Four Chapters of Paterson
History ^
I. The War for Independence
II. The Early White Settlers
III. Struggle for Indu^rial Supremacy
IV. Municipal Admini^ration
/ BY
CHARLES A. SHRINER
Author of
"Wit, Wisdom and Foibles of the Great."
1919:
Lent & Ovcrkawp Pub. Co.
Printers
Paterson, N.J,
Ccn4A4 Z
Copyright, 1919,
Charles A. Shriner. ^
OCT 21 1919
©Ci.A536345
cy
Record^
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V
Introductory
This book would not have been written had it not been
for the liberality of a publishing house. The Lewis His-
torical Publishing Company is about to issue in three
volumes William Nelson's History of Paterson. All who
were acquainted with Mr. Nelson knew him to be inde^
fatigable in his historical researches. His History of
Paterson was his life's work; at the time of his death he
had written over a million words of his History. All this
vast material, together with a great deal more obtained
from equally reliable sources, has been placed at the disposal
of the author of these Four Chapters of Paterson History.
This book is intended for use in the school room and for the
perusal of such persons as take an interest in the early days
of Paterson and in the growth of the city from its beginning
to the eminence it has attained as a place for industry and
residence.
C. A. S.
Paterson, N. J., August 15, 1919.
The War for Independence
The War for Independence
The people of New Jersey took an active part in the
quarrel between this country and Great Britain over the
question of taxation. They were willing contributors, both
in men and money, to the wars waged by England against
the French, the Indians and other enemies in this country,
but they wanted to have something to say about how the
money was to be collected for the benefit of the mother
country. The subject was one that afforded numerous dis-
cussions in the assembly and other lawmaking bodies.
GROUNDS FOR LOCAL COMPLAINT. ^
But the people living in this part of New Jersey had
two additional grievances. The English government passed
a law making it a crime to cut down any white pine trees
on lands not enclosed by fences; English men of money
owned millions of acres of forests, especially south of New
Jersey, and they were making fortunes out of cutting down
the white trees and using them for masts; they did not want
any interference with the profit they were making and so
they had enacted the law which made it a crime to cut
down any pine trees on unenclosed lands, as most of the
lands in New Jersey were.
The second grievance arose from the extensive mining
operations carried on in the northern part of what is now
Passaic county; there was no reason in those days why
articles of iron should not have been made in this country:
there was plenty of iron in the earth ; there were men to dig
it and there were men who knew how to work the iron after
8 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
the ore had been reduced: England then passed a law
makmg it a crime for any person in this country to make
any article of iron. The law was passed in the interest of
the iron manufacturers of England. All that the people in
this country could do was to ship the iron, after it had
been reduced from the ore, to England, where men would
make it into various articles and sell these back to the
people in this country at a high rate of profit. Nevertheless
the mines at Charlotteburg and Ringwood continued to be
worked ; the iron was taken by wagon through Paterson to
the river at Passaic where it was loaded on vessels and taken
to England.
STILL LOYAL TO ENGLAND.
The population in this country at that time was divided
into two parties: those who thought England was wrong
and those who thought England was right. Among the
former was Henry Garritse, who lived along the river road,
near where a cross road leads to Clifton, and Theunis Dey,
who lived in Preakness. Both attended a meeting held in
Newark in July, 1774, where arrangements were begun for
the formation of a congress of the colonies. Both were
members of the state legislature which met at Perth Amboy
in January, 1775, and both voted for a petition sent to
England asking relief from some of the laws to which this
country objected. The only answer came from Parliament
in April in the form of more laws hampering industry in
this country.
At a meeting held at Passaic Bridge in May, 1775, a
committee of twenty-three was appointed to assist in carry-
ing out the plan adopted in Newark. Of this committee six
lived in what are now the boundaries of the city of Paterson :
Michael Vreeland, Francis Post, Abraham Godwin, Cor-
nelius Van Winkle, Henry Post and Stephen Ryder; the
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 9
last-named subsequently deserted the American cause and
went over to the English. At the time the committee of
twenty-three was appointed there was little thought of
independence and all were still loyal to England. The Pro-
vincial Congress met in Trenton on May 23, 1775, and
made arrangements to enroll all males between sixteen and
fifty years of age in the militia, but there was little thought
at the time that the soldiers thus called together might
shoulder arms against England; even in November, 1775,
the assembly of which Henry Garritse and Theunis Dey
were members, passed a resolution of loyalty to England.
A HISTORIC BRIDGE.
One of the first bridges thrown across the Passaic river
stood, where a bridge at the present day spans the stream,
in the lower part of Passaic, below the old church on the
hill so plainly visible to passengers on the Erie passing
through Passaic. Unlike the present bridge, it was a rude
structure, bililt of wood, but it was of more importance to
the country than has been any bridge erected there since.
In warfare a point of the greatest consideration is the move-
ment of troops; the bridge at Passaic was the only bridge
on which troops could cross the river and consequently it
was of vast importance when, in November, 1776, General
William Howe had formed a plan of entering New Jersey
from the North and attacking the American forces. The
English were far stronger in numbers than were the Ameri-
cans and it required a great deal of good generalship on the
part of Washington to prevent the destruction of his army.
The Americans still had possession of Fort Washington, in
the upper part of what is now New York city, but they
were being harassed by the British and their mercenaries.
General Greene was encamped at Fort Lee and here he was
joined on November 10 by General Mercer, who came up
10 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
from the southern part of New Jersey ; these were the first
troops that passed through Paterson and crossed the river
at Passaic. Lord Stirling, an American General, was with
his forces some distance up the Hudson river; he crossed
the Hudson at Haverstraw and marched to Fort Lee, and
thence to Passaic, where he arrived on the 14th; with his
eight regiments he proceeded to his destination, New Bruns-
wick, leaving three regiments at Rahway.
A RACE ACROSS BERGEN COUNTY.
Washington had seen through the plans of the British
generals and as early as November 7 had sent word to Pas-
saic, warning the people there of the treatment they might
expect at the hands of the enemy. He reached Fort Lee
from Peekskill on November 3 and on the 15th was at
Hackensack. Then he hurried back to Fort Lee, for the
British had demanded the surrender of Fort Washington.
The British, however, were too strong for the Americans
and it was with sadness that he heard of the surrender of
the fort with all its garrison and nearly all its stores ; when
it was evident that the fort would be compelled to surrender
an attempt was made to move men and stores across the
river, but the British appeared in overwhelming forces
before this could be accomplished.
The surrender of the fort opened the way for the British
to carry out their plan of marching into New Jersey and on
the 19th Lord Cornwallis crossed the river and landed at
Closter, about five miles above Fort Lee. Greene at once
abandoned Fort Lee and started for Hackensack and he was
as expeditious about it as possible, for it was a question
whether he or the British could first reach the bridge called
even at the present day New Bridge. Fortunately the
British did not march as quickly as had been feared and the
American army crossed in safety. From November 15 to 20
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 11
Washington and his army were at Hackensack preparing for
the toilsome march to New Brunswick where they hoped to
join Lord Stirling. They left Hackensack on the 20th and,
passing through where Lodi and Garfield are now situated,
reached Passaic in two days. On the same day on which
they crossed the bridge some British troops appeared on the
other side, but it was too late, for the American forces were
busily engaged in tearing down the bridge, succeeding in
accomplishing this before the British could begin an attack.
Among those who assisted in this work of destruction were
men from the immediate neighborhood, notably John H.
Post, a farmer and carpenter, who was born where Passaic
now stands, and who in after years frequently told of the
work of destruction done on the 22d of November. The
American armies now lay on one side of the river and the
British on the other. Washington gave his forces a rest
and on the 28th started the march to New Brunswick, much
to the chagrin of the British who could see the preparations
for the retreat without being able to do anything to interfere
with it.
WHY THE BRITISH WERE SO SLOW.
When the British found themselves safe on the New
Jersey side of the Hudson they took time to develop their
plans. A detachment was at once sent forward to find out
where the Americans were and it was this detachment that
arrived too late at New Bridge and subsequently at Passaic.
After a consultation between Howe and Cornwallis the main
body started into motion on the 24th and two days later
reached the Passaic river, where they found out what had
taken place. In order to reach the American army it was
necessary to cross the Passaic and this the British de-
termined to do. There was a ford in the river, just below
where Dundee dam now stands, but the river was swollen
12 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATBRSON HISTORY
and huge cakes of ice were coming down the stream. Yet
the ford offered the only opportunity of reaching the Ameri-
cans and so the British determined to try it. In order to
find the shallow parts of the ford and avoid the deep holes
the British compelled Adrian Post, the son of a miller
nearby, to go ahead. Post had no choice in the matter and
did as he was told, contracting a pulmonary trouble, from
which he died twelve years later. The British crossed the
river at the ford, marched along the Passaic to Second river
and thence to Newark, reaching the latter city just as the
Americans were marching out of it on the other side.
This pursuit of the American forces gave rise to an
animated discussion in the British Parliament some time
after. It was pointed out that it had taken the British two
days to cover eight miles; it was pleaded in their behalf
that the weather was very bad, there being a great deal of
rain and cold, but the opinion that most of the British
people arrived at was expressed by one of their statesmen,
who said: "If our generals had not been so fond of their
beds and bellies the revolution would have ended in British
success in 1776 in New Jersey." This may have been true,
although the generalship of Washington might have pre-
vented a defeat; the fondness charged to the British was
fully corroborated by investigations in later years. When
the British forces had effected the crossing of the Passaic
river, they abandoned themselves to pillage. Some of them
strayed as far as where the Market street bridge now stands
and they took possession of everything they could lay their
hands on; a great deal of what they could not carry away
they destroyed, a proceeding the soldiers indulged in all
along their line of march. Every house they came to was
stripped of its furniture and every bam of its contents.
Hundreds of horses, cows, sheep, hogs and chickens, and
thousands of dollars in coin, jewelry, clothing and produce
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 13
followed in the wake of Washington's retreating anny but
in the possession of British soldiers.
Comwallis and Howe followed Washington to New
Brunswick ; here Comwallis was anxious to begin an attack
but was restrained by Howe, who thought it better to wait.
The British forces did wait and thus they made possible the
battles of Trenton and Princeton.
On November 28 another body of British troops, princi-
pally Hessian mercenaries, left New York, and followed
Howe and Comwallis, plundering as they went. In Sep-
tember, 1777, a marauding party from Sir Henry Clinton's
army visited Passaic and went up the river as far as Market
street, Paterson.
In May of that same year General Nathaniel Heard, of
the New Jersey militia, threw up some fortifications at
Pompton and in the following month was ordered back to
the same place by General Philemon Dickinson, at the
request of General Washington. One of the objects of
General Heard's presence at Pompton was the protection of
the Cannonball road, by which cannon balls, made at Ring-
wood, were taken to the American forces. This road was
formerly a goal of sightseers from Paterson; what was left
of it some years ago was discernible a short distance north
of the Pompton Lakes station on the New York, Susque-
hanna & Western railroad, and from there it could be easily
traced to Rotten pond; it was finally abandoned by the
authorities.
After the battle of Monmouth in 1778, Washington
returned to the Hudson river, passing through Passaic on
July 9. In October Lord Stirling had his headquarters at
Passaic, the object being to put a stop to the doings of
marauding parties of British soldiery.
14 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
In May, 1779, Captain Ferguson headed a marauding
party which penetrated through Bergen county and came
to Paterson by way of Paramus. At Vreeland avenue they
took two horses from Abraham C. Vreeland and at Twen-
tieth avenue five horses from Michael Vreeland. They con-
tinued on down the river road for some distance, pillaging
Rs they went.
On May 29, 1779, Washington broke camp at Middle-
brook for the purpose of checking a British advance in the
direction of West Point, the American army passing through
Pompton and Ringwood. They went over the same route
later in the year on the way to winter quarters at Morris-
town, where Lafayette joined Washington.
WASHINGTON AT TOTOWA.
Washington with his army was encamped between the
Falls of the Passaic and Preakness on July 4, 1780, remain-
ing there until the 29th of the month, when the army
marched to Paramus, being encamped there and at Tappan.
Washington had been informed that the British contem-
plated an attack on Rhode Island and in order to check this
the American forces were marched towards the Hudson
river as if intending to attack the British in New York.
Washington's threatening attitude induced the British to
give up their idea of marching towards Rhode Island and,
this having been accomplished, the American forces returned
to New Jersey. On October 7, Washington wrote from
Paramus :
"We have had a cold, wet, and tedious march, on account of the
feeble state of our cattle. My intention is to proceed with them to the
neighborhood of the Passaic Falls."
The army returned to its former camp at Totowa and
Preakness and remained there until November 27, when
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 15
Washington went into winter quarters at Morristown, leav-
ing the New Jersey Brigade at Pompton and the Clove.
Washington's headquarters, while his army was in
camp at Totowa and Preakness, were at the Dey house, a
building which can be reached at the present day by going
about two and a half miles along the road running westerly
from the river at Lincoln Bridge. When Washington was at
the Dey house that building was one of the most preten-
tious in this part of the country. Just when it was built is
a matter of uncertainty, the likelihood being that it was
erected about a quarter of a century before the Revolution
by Theunis Dey, a man whose name figures prominently in
the Revolutionary annals of the time. He was the son of
Dirck Dey and according to some traditions it was Dirck
Dey who erected the building before the birth of Theunis.
The house, two stories with a double pitch roof, has a
frontage of fifty-two feet and is thirty feet in depth. The
house is of brick, the doors and windows being handsomely
framed with polished brown sandstone. The side and rear
are of rubble work. The timbers on the inside are of
massive oak, fastened together with pins of wood, after the
fashion of building houses in those days. A centre hall,
twelve feet wide, has two rooms on each side. The house
stands today as it stood during Washington's occupancy,
with the exception of the two dormer windows in the roof,
these having been added many years later.
The location of the various divisions of the American
army, while Washington was at Preakness, is indicated on
the accompanying map.
A VISIT TO Washington's camp.
The Marquis de Chastellux, a French nobleman, visited
Washington at Preakness and tells of it as follows:
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 17
I found myself in a small plain, where I saw a handsome farm ; a
small camp which seemed to cover it, a large tent extended in the
court, and several wagons round it, convinced me that this was his
Excellency's quarter; for it is thus Mr. Washington is called in the
army, and throughout America. M. de la Fayette was in conversation
with a taU man, five foot nine inches high, (about five foot ten inches
and a half English,) of a noble and mild countenance. It was the
general himself. I was soon off horseback, and near him. The compli-
ments were short ; the sentiments with which I was animated, and the
good wishes he testified for me were not equivocal. He conducted me
to his house, where I found the company still at table, although the
dinner had been long over. He presented me to the Generals Knox,
Wayne, Howe, &c. and to his family, then composed of Colonels Hamil-
ton and Tilgman, his secretaries and his aids-de-camp, and of Major
Gibbs, commander of his guards ; for in England and America, the aids-
de-camp, adjutants and other officers attached to the general, form
what is called his family. A fresh dinner was prepared for me and
mine; and the present was prolonged to keep me company. A few
glasses of claret and madeira accelerated the acquaintances I had to
make, and I soon felt myself at my ease near the greatest and the
best of men. The goodness and benevolence which characterise him,
are evident from every thing about him ; but the confidence he gives
birth to, never occasions improper familiarity ; for the sentiment he
inspires has the same origin in every individual, a profound esteem for
his virtues, and a high opinion of his talents. About nine o'clock thQ
general officers withdrew to their quarters, which were all at a consider-
able distance ; but as the general wished me to stay in his own house,
I remained some time with him, after which he conducted me to the
chamber prepared for my aids-de-camp and me. This chamber occupied
the fourth part of his lodgings ; he apologized to me for the little room
he had in his disposal, but always with a noble politeness, which was
neither complimentary nor troublesome.
At nine the next morning they informed me that his excellency
was come down into the parlor. This room served at once as audience
chamber and dining-room. I immediately went to wait on him, an(J
f ovmd breakfast prepared. •- ^
Whilst we were at breakfast, horses were brought, and General
Washington gave orders for the army to get under arms at the head
of the camp. The weather was very bad, and it had already begun
raining ; we waited half an hour ; but the General seeing that it was
more likely to increase than to diminish, determined to get on horse-
back. Two horses were brought him, which were a present from the
state of Virginia ; he mounted one himself, and gave me the other.
Mr. Lynch and Mr. de Montesquieu, had each of them, also, a very
handsome blood horse, such as we could not find at Newport for any
money. We repaired to the artillery camp, where General Knox
received us : the artillery was numerous, and the gunners, in very fine
order, were formed in parade, in the foreign manner, that is, each gunner
at his battery, and ready to fire. The General was so good as to
apologize to me for the cannon not firing to salute me; he said, that
18 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
having put all the troops on the other side of the river in motion, and '
apprized them that he might hiinself march along the right bank, he
was afraid of giving the alarm, and of deceiving the detachments that
were out. We gained at length, the right of the army, where we saw
the Pennsylvania line ; it was composed of two brigades, each forming
three battalions, without reckoning the light infantry, which were de-
tached with the Marquis de la Fayette. General Wayne, who com-
manded it, was on horseback, as well as the Brigadiers and Colonels.
They were all well mounted : the officers also had a very military air ;
they were well ranged, and saluted very gracefully. Each brigade had
a band of music; the march they were then playing was the Huron.
I knew that this line, though in want of many things, was the best
clothed in the army ; so that his excellency asking me whether I would
proceed, and see the whole army, or go by the shortest road to the camp
■of the Marquis, I accepted the latter proposal. The troops ought to
thank me for it, for the rain was falling with redoubled force ; they
were dismissed, therefore, and we arrived heartily wet at the Marquis
de la Fayette's quarters, where I warmed myself with great pleasure,
partaking, from time to time, of a large bowl of grog, which is station-
ary on his table, and is presented to every officer who enters. The rain
appearing to cease, or inclined to cease for a moment, we availed our-
selves of the opportunity to follow his excellency to the camp of the
Marquis : we found all his troops in order of battle on the heights to
the left, and himself at their head ; expressing by his air and counten-
ance, that he was happier in receiving me there, than at his estate in
Auvergne. The confidence and attachment of the troops, are for him
invaluable possessions, well acquired riches, of which nobody can de-
prive him ; but what, in my opinion, is still more flattering for a young
man of his age, is the influence and consideration he has acquired
among the political, as well as the military order : I do not fear contra-
diction when I say, that private letters from him have frequently pro-
duced more effect on some states than the strongest exhortations of the
Congress. On seeing him, one is at a loss which most to admire, that
so young a man as he should have given such eminent proofs of talents,
or that a man so tried, should give hopes of so long a career of glory.
Fortunate his country, if she knows how to avail herself of them ; more
fortunate still should she stand in no need of calling them into exer-
tion !
The rain spared us no more at the camp of the Marquis, than at
that of the main army; so that our review being finished, I saw with
pleasure General Washington set off in a gallop to regain his quarters.
We reached them as soon as the badness of the roads would permit us.
At our return we found a good dinner ready, and about twenty guests,
among whom were Generals Howe and Sinclair. The repast was in
the English fashion, consisting of eight or ten large dishes of butcher's
meat, and poultry, with vegetables of several sorts, followed by a second
course of pastry, comprized under the two denominations of pies and
-puddings. After this the cloth was taken off, and apples and a great
quantity of nuts were served, which General Washington usually con-
tinues eating for two hours, toasting and conversing all the time. These
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 19
nuts are small and dry, and have so hard a shell, (hickory nuts) that
they can only be broken by the hammer; they are served half oi>en,
and the company are never done picking and eating them. The conver-
sation was calm and agreeable; his Excellency was pleased to enter
with me into the particulars of some of the principal operations of the
war, but always with a modesty and conciseness, which proved that it
was from pure complaisance he mentioned it. About half past seven we
rose from table, and immediately the servants came to shorten it, and
convert it into a round one; for at dinner it was placed diagonally to
give more room. I was surprised at this manoeuvre, and asked the
reason of It; I was told they were going to lay the cloth for supper.
In half an hour I retired to my chamber, fearing lest the General
might have business, and that he remained in company only on my
account ; but at the end of another half hour, I was informed that his
Excellency expected me at supper. I returned to the dining-room,
protesting against this supper; but the General told me he was accus-
tomed to take something in the evening; that if I would be seated, I
should only eat some fruit, and assist in the conversation. I desired
nothing better, for there were then no strangers, and nobody remained
but the General's family. The supper was composed of three or four
light dishes, some fruit, and above all, a great abimdance of nuts, which
were as well received in the evening as at dinner.
The weather was so bad on the 25th, that it was impossible for me
to stir, even to wait on the Generals, to whom M. de la Fayette waa
to conduct me. I easily consoled myself for this, finding it a great
luxury to pass a whole day with General Washington, as if he were
at his house in the country, and had nothing to do. The Generals
Glover, Huntington, and some others, dined with us, and the Colonels
Stewart and Butler, two oflScers distinguished in the army.
The weather being fair, on the 26th, I got on horseback, after
breakfasting with the general. He was so attentive as to give me
the horse he rode on, the day of my arrival, which I had greatly
commended : I found him as good as he is handsome ; but above all,
perfectly well broke, and well trained, having a good mouth, easy in
hand, and stopping short in a gallop without bearing the bit. I men-
tion these minute particulars, because it is the general himself who
breaks all his own horses ; and he is a very excellent and bold horse-
man, leaping the highest fences, and going extremely quick, without
standing upon his stirrups, bearing on the bridle, or letting his horse
run wild ; circumstances which our young men look upon as so essential
a part of English horsemanship, that they would rather break a leg or
an arm than renounce them.
My first visit was to General Wayne, where Mr. de la Fayette
was waiting to conduct me to the other general oflScers of the line.
We were received by General Huntington, who appeared rather young
for the rank of Brigadier-General, which he has held two years: his
carriage is cold and reserved, but one is not long in perceiving him to
be a man of sense and information ; by General Glover, about five and
forty, a little man, but active and a good soldier ; by General Howe, who
is one of the oldest Major-Generals, and who enjoys the consideration
20 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
due to his rank, though, from unfavourable circumstances, he has not
been fortunate in war, particularly in Georgia, where he commanded
with a very small force, at the time General Provost took possession
of it : he is fond of music, the arts, and pleasure, and has a cultivated
mind. I remained a considerable time with him, and saw a very
curious lusus natura, but as hideous as possible. It was a young man
of a Dutch family, whose head was become so enormous, that it took
the whole nourishment from his body ; and his hands and arms were so
weak that he was unable to make use of them. He lies constantly in
bed, with his monstrous head supported by a pillow; and as he has
long been accustomed to lie on his right side, his right arm is in a
state of atrophy : he is not quite an idiot, but he could never learn
any thing, and has no more reason than a child of five or six years
old, though he is seven and twenty. This extraordinary derangement
of the animal economy proceeds from a dropsy, with which he was
attacked in his infancy, and which displaced the bones that form the
cranium. We know that these bones are joined together by sutures,
which are soft in the first period of life, and harden and ossify with
age. Such an exuberance, so great an afflux of humour in that, which
of all the viscera seems to require the most exact proportion, as well
in what relates to the life as to the understanding of man, afford
stronger proof of the necessity of an equilibrium between the solids and
the fluids, than the existence of the final causes.
The big-headed man, referred to by the Marquis, was
Pieter Van Winkle, who was bom in 1754, and died at the
age of thirty-one years. Samuel Dewees, who was a fifer
in a Pennsylvania regiment, described him as follows:
His body was chunkey and about the size of a healthy boy of ten
or twelve years old and he laid in a kind of cradle, but his head
(although shaped like to a human head), was like a flour barrel in
size, and it was common for one soldier to describe it to others by
comparing it to a flour barrel. It had to be lifted about (the body
could not support it) whenever and wherever it had to be moved to.
His senses appeared to be good, and it was usual for us to say, "he can
talk like a lawyer." He would talk to every person that visited him.
All the soldiers that visited him and that had any money, would always
give him something. It was said that General Washington when he
went to see him gave his father the sum of four or five hundred dollars
as a present to aid in his support. Although I have here attempted a
description of his person and appearance, it beggared every description
I can give, as no person can conceive truly his appearance, but those
that seen him.
Among the visitors to Pieter Van Winkle was General
LaFayette, who, on his return visit to Totowa, in 1824, in-
quired after the health of this prodigy.
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 21
ANECDOTES ABOUT WASHINGTON.
Numerous anecdotes are told of Washington while he
was in the neighborhood, anecdotes trite in themselves, but
interesting because of their connection with Washington.
Thus, Lena Van Houten, who lived with her parents on the
bank of the Passaic river near Lincoln bridge, was returning
to her home with a pail of water from the river; she was a
young girl and as she trudged along merrily she was singing.
She noticed that she was being followed at a respectful
distance by a man who was evidently deriving pleasure from
her singing. She entered the house and was followed by the
man, who with stately courtesy asked her to repeat the song.
She looked up and saw the well known face and figure of
George Washington. She was so overcome that she left the
room as hurriedly as possible.
Simeon Hopper was born in 1780 and he was only a few
hours old when Washington fondled him; holding him up
in his broad hands, he exclaimed, "In eighteen years I shall
have another soldier."
Washington occasionally went out hunting and at times
was accompanied by Cornelius Doremus, then fifteen years
of age. Doremus frequently told that it was Washington's
custom at nine o'clock in the evening, to place a Bible upon
a stand, read a chapter and then offer prayer. When Wash-
ington was about to leave, he took Cornelius by the hand
and said, "Cornelius, you are a good boy. Always mind your
father, and speak the truth."
TRIAL OF Arnold's accomplice.
Benedict Arnold visited Washington at Preakness on
July 28, 1780, probably for the purpose of obtaining all the
information possible, for he was already in communication
with the British, to whom he had offered to surrender West
Point. When Major John Andre was arrested, Joshua Hett
22 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
Smith was also taken into custody, for he had accompanied
Andre to the place where the treason was arranged. Smith
was taken along when the army moved from Tappan to
Totowa and he was there tried for treason. While the case
was pending he was quartered at the Passaic Hotel, corner
of River and Bank streets, Paterson, concerning which he
wrote subsequently that the landlady refused him admit-
tance when she discovered who he was. This was certainly
not at all surprising, for the landlady was Mrs. Abraham
Godwin, whose husband had given up his life in the cause
of freedom; two of her sons were in the American army and
a third was in a British prison ship in New York harbor.
The court rendered a peculiar verdict: it was to the effect
that Smith was guilty of all the acts charged against him,
but, as he had no guilty knowledge of the intentions of
Andre, he was acquitted. In anticipation of a possible
failure of justice another warrant had been issued for his
arrest and he was hurried off to Goshen for another trial.
Here he made his escape at night and found his way through
Ringwood and Pompton, back to Totowa. He spent the day
concealed in the woods and at night found a small canoe in
which he crossed the Passaic. He gained the top of Garret
mountain and finally reached Jersey City, from which escape
to the British in New York was a matter of ease.
A COURT MARTIAL AT POMPTON.
The Btory of the revolt of some New Jersey soldiers
while in camp at Pompton does not make very pleasant
reading, but there are more dark pages in history than such
as give pleasure. The trouble began on January 1, 1781,
when the Pennsylvania line mutinied. It may be said in
extenuation of the gravity of their offence, that the soldiers
were ill-clad and half-starved and that they were suffering
all other privations which a lack of funds and a rigorous
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 23
climate could bring. There was also a question whether the
men were not right in demanding that they should have the
privilege of returning to their homes. They had enlisted
"for three years or during the war." What did this mean?
Were the men to serve during the war if it did not last more
than three years, or were they to serve during the whole war
no matter how long it lasted? The Pennsylvania Line took
up their march to Philadelphia with a view to compelling
Congress to redress their grievances. Congress appointed
a commission ; the difficulty was smoothed over and the men
returned to their camps. The mutineers had been at least
partially successful and this had a bad effect on the New
Jersey soldiers. Foreseeing that there would be trouble,
most of the New Jersey soldiers were sent to Chatham. One
hundred and sixty of them remained at Pompton. One of
the demands these made was that they should receive all
the pay due them and they stipulated that they would take
seventy-five dollars in paper money for every dollar due.
The legislature of New Jersey promptly acceded to this^
demand, emptying the state treasury in doing so. There
still remained other grievances, including the question of the^
term of their enlistment. They were told that the matter
should be looked into and replied that their own oaths were
better evidence than any ofl&cial records. Unfortunately
they had made the worst possible use, especially under the
circumstances, of the money they had received, for most of
it found its way into the till at the tavern. Tired of waiting
for relief, they placed themselves under the command of
Sergeant-Major George Grant on January 20 and rose in
open rebellion. Grant was an intelligent soldier and writer,
for he had been with General Sullivan in a campaign
against the Indians in 1779 and had written a history of the
expedition. It was with reluctance that he accepted the new
honor thrust upon him. A few of the mutineers went so..
24 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
far as to talk of deserting to the enemy, but this was not the
prevailing spirit. Sir Henry Clinton, the British comman-
der at New York, however, had heard some of the whispers
of treason and he was anxious to take the full benefit of
them. He appointed commissioners to treat with the in-
surgents and sent an armed force to support them. When
the insurgents heard of this they passed a resolution that
they would at once put to death any person who suggested
desertion to the British and, furthermore, that they would
hang any British emissary who made any overtures to that
effect. A delegation from the New Jersey legislature arrived,
willing to make any promises that could be kept. The
soldiers went back to their tents and huts but they did so
reluctantly and it was evident that they were doing what
they were not willing to do.
Word of what had taken place reached Washington and
he at once resolved upon drastic measures. There had been
too much insubordination and it was time, if the army was
to be kept together, that energetic steps should be taken to
make it plain that treason would not be tolerated under any
circumstances. Washington despatched General Robert
Howe with one thousand men ; in his letter of instructions to
General Howe he said :
"The object of your detachment is to compel the mutineers to
unconditional submission ; and I am to desire, that you will grant no
terms while they are with arms in their hands in a state of resistance.
If you succeed in compelling the revolted troops to a surrender, you
will instantly execute a few of the most active and incendiary leaders."
General Howe at once proceeded to execute the com-
mission. He had serious misgivings, for he was leading men
against their fellow soldiers, and his thousand men had the
same grievances which had driven the insurgents to extreme
measures. He tested the loyalty of his troops in various
ways and was satisfied that they would obey orders. He left
New Windsor with his troops on one of the coldest days of
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 25
the year and arrived at Ringwood on Friday, January 26.
During the night he posted his men close to the camp of the
insurgents and every road leading from it was carefully
guarded. The demand for surrender came shortly after the
break of day and it was a rude awakening for the disaffected
soldiers. They were ordered to march unarmed into an ad-
joining field. Some of them made attempts to escape but
they found all avenues cut off. Finally they yielded and
immediately afterwards they told the story of their doings
to a court martial, "standing in the snow," as the record
reads. Sergeant-Major Grant, Sergeant David Gillmore
and Private John Tuttle were convicted of having been the
ringleaders in the rebellion and sentenced to death. Grant
was pardoned, because it was shown that he had unwillingly
assumed the command ; the other two were at once shot, the
bullets which ended their existence speeding from rifles in
the hands of some of their fellow conspirators. Two mounds
of stones mark the graves of the fallen ; these mounds may
still be seen on an elevation in the mountains overlooking
the raih-oad station at Pompton Lakes. A guard sufficient
to protect the stores at Ringwood and Pompton was left
behind; the rest of the army, including the men who had
rebelled, marched south on their way to Yorktown.
CHANGES OF SCENE AT POMPTON.
There was a wholly different scene of military activity
at Pompton during the latter days of August of that same
year. The French general, the Count de Rochambeau, had
crossed the Hudson at Stony Point and reached Pompton
on the 25th. Instead of half-starved and rag-clad soldiers
the natives beheld the flower of the French army officered
by some of the greatest noblemen of France. Fully equipped
and with an abundance of ammunition they passed through
Pompton and thence to Whippany on their way south to
he present at the surrender at Yorktown.
26 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
Another and a still different scene was presented at
Pompton in December. It was a part of the same army-
returning victorious from Yorktown; the soldiers were a
little bedraggled and their uniforms a little the worse for
wear, but the spirit of victory accomplished had taken the
place of the grim determination of soldiers about going to
battle. The commander of the regiment that passed through
Pompton was de Chastellux, who had risen to the dignity of
Major-General.
On July 12, 1782, Washington passed through Pompton
with a part of his army on his way from the Hudson to
Philadelphia, to meet Rochambeau. But Washington had
not yet seen the last of what is now the territory of Passaic
county, for he rode from Newburg to Ringwood in April,
1783, for the purpose of meeting the Secretary of War to
make arrangements for the release of prisoners. On August
18, 1783, Washington, accompanied by Mrs. Washington,
left his headquarters at Newburg for Rocky Hill, N. J.,
where he issued his farewell address to his army on Novem-
ber 2, and the probability is that he passed through Pomp-
ton.
Just how many men from Paterson fought in the Revo-
lutionary army cannot be ascertained, for in those days the
records were not kept with the particularity of the present
day. There were many of them, and many were heroes
whose deeds of valor and of suffering have never been told
or have been long since forgotten. But there were some
whose prominence in those days of great opportunities at-
tracted more than passing attention. The most prominent,
so far as Paterson is concerned, were the patriotic Godwins.
A FAMILY or HEROES.
Abraham Godwin, whose father came to this country
from England in 1720, was born in New York city on No-
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 27
vember 23, 1724, and there, on May 9, 1747, he married
Phebe Cool, whose father had come to this country from
Holland in 1722. He was employed as a carpenter in New
York but some eight years after his marriage determined to
leave and establish a home for himself in what was at that
time a wilderness. Among the places he visited was one
called Totowa by the Indians ; the latter were very friendly
and, in fact, seemed anxious to have Godwin come and live
among them. He returned to New York and made known
his intention of going to New Jersey to live. He was at
that time employed by the Dey family and they were re-
luctant to part with so good a carpenter. So they ofifered to
give him the south side of Dey street, from Broadway to
the Hudson river, if he would work for them to the extent
of six hundred pounds. But Godwin had seen New Jersey
and, like so many others since, liked it better than New
York. He erected a house for himself on what is now the
southeast comer of River and Bank streets and he removed
thither with his family. The Ringwood company had begun
operations in the upper part of the county and they were
compelled to cart their product, iron, over bad roads to a
place on the river near Passaic; their men found Godwin's
house a very convenient place to stop at; in this way
Godwin became acquainted with the managers of the com-
pany and he was soon appointed their agent to purchase
goods for them in New York and bring these goods to Pater-
son, from whence they could be carted to Ringwood. That
he kept on good terms with the Indians is evident from the
fact that the Indians were in the habit of sending some of
their warriors to his house to look after the safety of the
occupants while Godwin was away on his trips to New
York. After the Indians had gone Godwin changed his
house into a tavern and for some years did a thriving busi-
ness, for the population of the neighborhood was ever in-
28 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
creasing and there were many sightseers from New York
attracted by the Falls. But he was not permitted to retain
the monopoly, for in 1774 James Leslie opened a tavern at
what is now the southwest corner of Redwoods and Totowa
avenues. This induced Mr. Godwin to erect a more pre-
tentious building for his tavern, a building, subsequently
enlarged, which was known for many years as the Passaic
Hotel. In the New York Gazette, September 5, 1774, he
announced :
"The subscriber Las built a new and very commodious house for
tavernkeeping, about two hundred yards from his late dwelling house,
at the foot of the bridge, on the King's highway to Newark, and intends
God willing, to leave all business as shopkeeping and farming, and
apply himself solely to tavernkeeping, and to keep as good a house as
the counti'y will afford, viz.. Eating, drinking and lodging, with the best
accommodation for horses. All gentlemen and ladies who will please
favor him with their company, may depend upon the best and genteelest
treatment. Should it appear too great a distance from his house to the
Falls, any gentlemen or ladies who chuse to go there shall be supplied
with horses gratis. A convenient room for dancing, and a fiddler, will
always be ready for the service of ladies & gentlemen who may require
it. Also a guide to attend any strangers, who shall show them all the
natural curiosities at the Falls."
Godwin built a number of houses, principally along
Broadway, as high up as Carroll street, and was in a fair way
to become a man of wealth when the shadows of the Revo-
lution began to appear. He also erected a building on the
opposite side of the river, which he used for some years as
a store house and subsequently as a tavern. He was one of
the first to espouse the cause of liberty. He had a com-
mission from the king of England as a captain of a company
of horse; as he did not approve of the conduct of George III.
towards the American colonies he resigned his commission
and disbanded the company. This was a signal for a begin-
ning of bitter enmity on the part of those who remained
loyal to Great Britain. These did all they possibly could
to annoy and injure Godwin and he soon found himself
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 29
compelled to sell a great deal of his real estate at prices much
lower than he considered its true value.
He was one of the first to enlist and he soon rose to the
rank of captain of marines on board the Lady Washington
in the harbor of New York. He was wounded, slightly it was
at first supposed, in an engagement at the Highlands of New
Jersey, but he returned to his ship. Here he received pain-
ful news from home. Marauding bands of English and
Hessians had taken possession of his house, destroyed his
furniture and put his family in sore straits. He begged his
commanding officer for a hundred men with the intention
of punishing the marauders, but this was refused. His
wound began to give more trouble and, with worried spirit
and intense physical suffering, he expired on February 9,
1777. His remains were interred with all military honors
at Fishkill, N. Y.
Henry Godwin, oldest son of Abraham Godwin, was
born February 25, 1751. He left Paterson early in life and
was practicing law near Fishkill, N. Y., in 1775, when he
enlisted in the Revolutionary army. He rose to be captain
of the Fifth New York regiment, which was captured by the
British at the surrender of Fort Montgomery, October 6,
1777. For three years he was kept prisoner aboard a ship
and then for six months was on parole on Long Island, after
which he was exchanged. He returned to his home in New
York where he died shortly after, his death being caused
by privations endured while he was a prisoner. His remains
were interred next to those of his father.
Abraham Godwin, bom July 16, 1763, was a little more
than thirteen years old, when he joined his brother's com-
pany in the Fifth New York regiment as fife major. With
him came another brother, David, born March 5, 1766,
who was the regimental drummer. The two boys served
throughout the war. Abraham returned to Paterson and
30 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
soon after sold the property he had obtained in the state
of New York for his services in the army, using the money
thus obtained in repurchasing his father's tavern which had
been sold by creditors during the days of the war. David
was employed as a carpenter for a number of years in Pat-
erson, after which he removed to Rhinebeck, N. Y., where
he died.
THE ROMANCE OF THE RINGWOOD MINES.
Robert Erskine was sent to this country by the London
Company to look after their mining interests in what is now
the upper part of Passaic county. Iron had been found in
the mountains there many years before and iron was what
was wanted not only in this country but in Europe. Iron
miners came from afar and near, bought lands from the
Indians and began digging for ore. But it was not until
1740 that this work was done on a large scale, for in that
year the Ringwood Company was formed. The company
worked the mines for nearly a quarter of a century and then
sold out to the London Company, an organization with a
peculiar history. Peter Hasenclever was bom in Germany,
but he had lived for many years in Portugal. He was in-
terested in the doings in this country and he thought he
saw a way in which he could make a great deal of money.
There was iron in America, and Portugal wanted iron;
Portugal made beads, toys and other such things as the
Indians in the West Indies would like to have; there was
a great deal of fine fruit in the West Indies, just the kind
the people in New York would be willing to give money
for. So a number of vessels might sail from Portugal to the
West Indies and from there to New York and make money
in each place, toys from Portugal, fruits from the West
Indies and iron from New York. But Hasenclever could not
make the Portuguese see things that way and so he went
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 31
to London where he found people willing enough to risk
their money with him. But he could not find miners willing
to take their chances in the new country. So he went back
to where he had been born and there he had no trouble in
inducing a number of miners to go with him. With the cash
he had received in London he bought out the Ringwood
Company, But Hasenclever found that he could not make
any money out of his scheme and so the English, whose
money he was spending, brought him back and put John
Jacob Faesch in his place. Faesch did not do much better
and his place was taken by Erskine. He had about six
hundred men working for him, nearly all in the mines, and
he was making money for those who employed him, when
the Revolutionary war broke out. He at once espoused
the cause of this country and organized the workmen in his
employ into a company, the services of which he offered to
Washington, making a stipulation, however, that the men
should not be drafted into other regiments; he wanted to
keep his men together, so that in the event of a cessation
of hostilities, they could all return to Ringwood. He became
an intimate friend of Washington and was commissioned
Geographer and Surveyor-General of the American forces.
On the road leading from the Hewitt residence to the com-
pany's store there may be seen today two tombs, mounds
built of brick, on which rest two slabs. One of these slabs
indicates that beneath lie buried the remains of "Robert
Erskine, F. R. S., Geographer and Surveyor-General to the
Army of the United States, Son of Ralph Erskine, late
minister at Dunfermline, in Scotland. Born September 7th,
1735. Died October 2d, 1780. Aged 45 Years and 25
Days." The inscription on the other slab reads: "In Mem-
ory of Robert Monteith, Clark to Robert Erskine, Esq.
Born at Dunblaine in Scotland. Died December 2, 1778,
Aged 33 Years."
32 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD.
One of the most picturesque figures on the streets of
early Paterson, a man who was always in demand when
there was any activity in military afifairs, was that of Briga-
dier-General William Colfax, a resident for many years of
Pompton, but a frequent visitor in Paterson. He was born
in New London, Conn., July 3, 1756, and took part in the
famous battle of Bunker Hill. He was subsequently trans-
ferred to a Connecticut regiment. He was at Valley Forge
when Washington, on March 17, 1778, issued an order that
"one hundred men are to be annexed to the Guard of the
Commander-in-Chief, for the purpose of forming a corps,
to be instructed in the maneuvres necessary to be intro-
duced into the army, and to serve as a model for the execu-
tion of them." Birth in this country was a requisite for
enlistment in this Guard and the motto selected was "Con-
quer or Die." According to the order the guards were to be
from five feet eight inches to five feet ten inches in height,
between twenty and thirty years of age, of "robust consti-
tution, well-limbed, formed for activity, and men of estab-
lished character for sobriety and fidelity." In this guard
Colfax was lieutenant and subsequently captain comman-
dant, succeeding Captain Caleb Gibbs, of Rhode Island.
Captain Colfax was wounded three times. On the first
occasion, as he was about to give a word of command, a
bullet struck his uplifted sword and, glancing down the
blade, injured his hand. Shortly after a bullet passed
through his right forearm, between the bones, but doing no
injury to them. On the third occasion the captain was on
horseback when a bullet went through his body, between the
abdomen and the hip. In the excitement of the battle he
paid no attention to the wound until some soldiers saw
blood issuing from his boot. He rode to the field hospital,
where the wound was found to he more serious than had
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 33
been at first apprehended. He lay sick for some time in the
hospital, but when General Washington offered him a fur-
lough, that he might go home until fully recovered, he de-
clined it, preferring to remain with the army. Some time
afterwards, while the army was in winter quarters at Mor-
ristown, he accepted the furlough and rode on horseback all
the way to his home in Connecticut. He returned very
much improved in health and remained with the army until
the close of the war.
At the surrender of Cornwallis Captain Colfax occu-
pied a prominent position near Washington and Rocham-
beau, havmg been placed there by the orders of Washing-
ton. It is but natural that in after years he should have
been fond of detailing that momentous scene. He said that
the surrender took place while the band was playing "Yan-
kee Doodle." Cornwallis kept away on the plea of not
feeling well, and sent General O'Hara to tender the sword
of surrender. The American and French armies were drawa
up, facing each other, Washington at the head of one and
Rochambeau at the head of the other. General O'Hara did
not fancy the task assigned to him; he hesitated between
tendering the sword to the general commanding the rebel-
lious subjects of his king or tendering it to the general of a
nation with which England had had so many bloody wars.
But he apparently concluded that it would be less difficult
to surrender to a Frenchman. So he seized the sword by
the blade and presented the hilt to the French general,
when the latter exclaimed, "Me no Washington ; me Roch-
ambeau," just as if that bit of information were at all
necessary. O'Hara then turned to Washington and com-
pleted the surrender.
That Captain Colfax was a favorite of General Wash-
ington and also of Mrs. Washington is evident from two
keepsakes still in possession of the Colfax family. One of.
34 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
them is an old flint-lock pistol, presented by Washington to
Colfax; there were two of them when the presentation was
made, but one was lost some years ago. The pistol is ten
inches long, the stock ornamented with silver filagree work,
and apparently made in Holland, judging from the inscrip-
tion, "Thone, Amsterdam." The other keepsake is a net,
used to confine the hair when men wore their hair in cues;
it was worn for many years by the Captain of the Com-
mander's Guard. It is made of linen and was knitted by
the hands of Mrs. Washington and by her presented to
Colfax.
Many people who have not passed far beyond the
meridian of life still remember the old house, with the roof
sloping almost to the ground in the rear, which stood on the
road above Pompton, about a quarter of a mile from where
the road to Wanaque and Greenwood Lake branches from
the main road. In Revolutionary days this house was the
scene of many social festivities, in which Washington and
his soldiers took part. It was occupied by the family of
Jasper Schuyler, a most attractive member of which evi-
dently was the daughter, Hester. Although she was kind
and pleasant to all the military men who sought hospitality
and entertainment beneath her father's roof, she showed
a marked preference to the gallant soldier who commanded
the Guard of the Commander-in-Chief. That this friend-
ship developed into a sentiment stronger than mere liking
is evident from the fact that immediately after the war
Captain Colfax repaired to Pompton and there, on August
27, 1783, he married Hester Schuyler.
Fifty-five years and a little over after this date the
remains of William Colfax, dressed in his uniform as Briga-
dier-General, were laid in the family burial plot and there
may be seen today the shaft which marks his last resting-
place. Those fifty-five years were filled with toil, ease and
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 35
honor for the most prominent Revolutionary character of
what is now Passaic county — toil being his share as a farmer,
ease his share when he had accumulated enough of this
world's goods to render him- independent, and honor his
share as justice of the peace, judge of the Court of Common
Pleas, assemblyman and Brigadier-General of the Second
Division of Infantry of Bergen county. Only once were the
peaceful pursuits interrupted during all these years; in 1812
there was another war with England and Brigadier-General
Colfax had a command at Sandy Hook. He remained in
the service of his country until peace was again declared and
then returned to Pompton and his family. In 1824 he was
among those who took part in the welcome to Lafayette
on that general's return visit to this country; he led the
local military in the great parade in Newark and accompa-
nied the French general to Hackensack, then along the
Goffle towards Paterson and he saw the agitation of the
visitor there when he noticed the rude memorial, only a
plain board with a suitable inscription, placed there by
some of his former soldiers, which indicated the spot where
Lafayette's tent had stood during the dark days of the
Revolution ; he led the march through the streets of Pater-
son and partook of the banquet tendered to the French
general by the grateful and patriotic citizens of Paterson.
Brigadier-General Colfax died September 9, 1838, aged
eighty-two years and two months. His body was escorted
to the grave by the military of Paterson; the old Dutch
Reformed church at Pompton never held a larger sorrowing
multitude than listened to the funeral oration delivered by
the Rev. Isaac S. Demarest.
A HERO FROM PASSAIC PARK.
There was still another resident of Passaic county who
attained eminence during the Revolution. His name was
86 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
Daniel Niel and in early life he was a merchant in New
York city. He removed to Acquackanonk about 1773 and
kept a store where the park is now located at Passaic Bridge.
At the outbreak of the war those of his neighbors who still
remained loyal to England made life as unpleasant for him
as possible and he sustained severe pecuniary losses. He
joined an Essex county regiment in July, 1775, and became
adjutant; he was transferred to the artillery and as captain-
lieutenant of such, at the head of his corps, he was killed,
January 3, 1777, at the battle of Princeton.
REMAINED LOYAL TO ENGLAND.
But all the people who lived hereabouts in 1775 were
not anxious to see this a free country ; there were some who
preferred loyalty to the home country to freedom in their
new homes, but it is pleasant to record that there were not
many of them. Two, who were the most prominent, were
Robert Drummond and Joseph Ryerson. Drummond was
a wealthy merchant and ship-owner at Acquakanonk Land-
ing. When trouble between this country and England first
became apparent, his thoughts and counsel were with the
American cause; he was a member of the Provincial Con-
gress and its speaker for two terms, but when war broke out
he tendered his services to his king and organized the
Second Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers and was com-
missioned its major. He enlisted about two hundred men,
principally from the Bergen county side of the river. He
saw service in the South, where most of his men fell victims
to disease consequent upon the climate. After the war he
removed to England, where he died in 1789. As a reward
for his services he received a pension, and also a farm in
Nova Scotia; his brother, David, espoused the cause of this
country and his reward was a farm in New York state.
Joseph Ryerson was bom at Pequannock, February 28,
1761. He entered the army as a cadet when he was only
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 37
fifteen years of age and rose to the lieutenancy in the Prince
of Wales's regiment; as such he distinguished himself at
Charleston. His reward was a tract of land in Ontario. He
and his three sons saw service in the war of 1812, after
which he returned to Ontario, where he died August 9,
1854.
The Early White Settlers.
The Early White Settlers
The land at present occupied by the city of Paterson,
and a great deal of land on all sides of it, belonged to the
Indians until March 28, 1679, for on that date the following
deed was given :
Know all men by these Presents that I Captahem Indian Sachem
and Chief, Owner of a certain tract of Laud Lying and being upon
Pisawyck River knowne by the name of Haquequenunck, Have for my
Selfe my Heires and Assignes, in the Presence and by the aprobation
and consent of Memiserean, Mindawas, Ghonnajea, Indians and Sachems
of the said Contry, for an In Consideration of a certain Prcel of goods,
Blankets, kettles powder and other Goods to my Content and Satisfac-
tion In hand paid, by Hans Dederick, Gerret Garretson, Walling
Jacobs and Hendrick George, The Receipt whereof I do hereby acknowl-
edge to have received to my Content and Satisfaction given, alienated
bargained and sold unto the said Hans Dedericks, Gerrit Gerritsen,
Walling Jacobs, Hendrick George and their Associates all and singular
the abovementioned tract of land and the meadows adjoining beginning
from the northernmost bounds of the Towne of Newark from the Lower-
most part thereof to the uppermost as fare as the steep Rocks or
Mountaines, and from thence to the Run all along the said
Pisawick River to the White Oak Tree standing neere the said River
on the north side of a small brook, and from thence up to
the steep Rocks or Mountains, Which said tree was marked by the said
Captaham In the prsence of La Prairie Surveyor-General.
This deed was given by the Lenni Lenape, a tribe of
aborigines who roamed all over New Jersey, and the deed
was good enough as far as it went, but Indian deeds never
went very far, as the purchasers mentioned in the deed
soon ascertained to be the case in this particular instance.
King Charles II. of England had made a present in 1664 to
his brother, James, Duke of York, afterwards King James
II., of all the land now comprised in New England, New
York and New Jersey, and the Duke of York had given title
42 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
to New Jersey to two of his friends and from these the Lords
Proprietors, there were twenty-four of them, obtained the
whole of New Jersey. So the men who had bought the
lands from the Indians associated themselves with several
others, and on March 16, 1684, the land passed from the
Lords Proprietors into the possession of "Hans Didericke,
Garrett Garretson, Walling Jacobs, Elias Machielson, Hart-
man Machielson, Johannes Machielson, Cornelius Machiel-
son, Adrian Post, Uriah Tomason, Cornelius Rowlafson,
Symon Jacobs, John Hendrick Speare, Cornelius Lubbers,
and Abraham Bookey," for fifty pounds cash down, fourteen
pounds a year and one half of all the gold and silver that
might be mined on the property. The sale of this land is
generally referred to as the Acquakanonk patent. The deed
conveyed about 4,000 of the 5,357 acres in Paterson, all of
the city, excepting the First and Second wards and a portion
of the Seventh ward.
DIVIDING THE TRACT.
If the fourteen owners of the newly-acquired property
had divided it up into equal shares, every one of them
would have had more real estate than he would have known
what to do with ; accordingly each took a hundred acre lot,
the rest being held in common, until the increase in popula-
tion called for another division. After the second parcel of
fourteen lots had been distributed, the owners laid out four-
teen lots along the river and called these lots Goutum, after
a village in North Holland, a name subsequently corrupted
into Gotham. The next parcelling, about 1701, divided up
the property running along the river from near where the
New York, Susquehanna & Western railroad crosses the
river near Dundee Lake to Garret Mountain above the
Falls.
A division made in 1714, however, is of more interest
to the people of Paterson. The owners of the property
THE EARLY WHITE SETTLERS 43
drew a straight line on a piece of paper, the beginning of
a map made with pen and ink ; the straight line is now East
Eighteenth street, although for many years it was called
York avenue. Then they divided up the property lying
on both sides of this line, thirteen plots on one side and
fifteen on the other. This map is reproduced on the next
page. In order that the lettering may be understood by
people of the present day, accustomed to a different kind of
writing, the following explanation will be of assistance:
On the east side of the dividing line Lot No. 1 belonged
to Frans (Francis) Post, being south of People's Park,
No. 2 to Hessel Pieterse, No. 3 to Abram Van Riper, No. 4
to Elias Vreeland, No. 5 to Arie (Adrian) Post, No. 6 to
John Van Blarcom, his northerly line being the present
Park avenue. No. 7 to Simeon Van Winkle, extending to
Thirteenth avenue on the north and the river on the east,
No. 8 to Magiel (Michael) Vreeland, No. 9 to Simeon Van
Winkle, between Twelfth avenue and the river. No. 10 to
Abram Van Riper, No. 11 to Henderic (Henry) Spier, No.
12 to Michael Vreeland, No. 13 to John Bradberry, No. 14
to Henderic Garretse (Henry Garrison), at Riverside, No. 15
to Michael Vreeland. On the west side of the dividing line
No. 1, near the Passaic Rolling Mill, belonged to Michael
Vreeland, No. 2 to Elias Vreeland, No. 3 to Henry Post, No.
4 to Jacobus Post, No. 5 to Hessel Pieterse and Gerrit Van
Wagenen, No. 6 to John Van Blarcom, No. 7 to Abram
Thomasse, No. 8 to Henderic Spier, Nos. 9 and 10 to Derrick
(Richard) Van Houten, Nos. 11 and 12 to Adrian Post and
No. 13 to Comelis Garritse (Cornelius Garrison).
When it came to dividing up what is now known as the
over-the-river section of Paterson the early settlers again
had recourse to paper and ink and a crude attempt at mak-
ing a map. Property including Garret mountain and the
territory lying along the river as far up as the Peckamin
Nearrisi Ave.
PuvV CtvA
8« 7th and
7*0^ Cuv^
II.
ell
53i
gtdi
46 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
river was purchased because it was feared that timber would
soon be scarce in Paterson. The property belonged to Peter
Sonmans, a son of one of the East Jersey Proprietors, and
he sold it, November 27, 1711, to Frans Post, Harmanus
Gerritse, Thomas Juriantse, Christopher Steenmetz, Cornelis
Doremus, Peter Poulusse and Hessel Pieterse, for six hun-
dred and sixty pounds. It was customary in those days for
purchasers of property to pay an annual rent in addition
to the purchase price; in this case the price paid was con-
sidered so large that the annual quit-rent was made as
small as possible and so it was fixed at one peppercorn a
year.
BUYING LAND FROM THE INDIANS.
The early settlers, especially in the northern part of
New Jersey, were honest in their dealings with the Indians.
The right of the red man to the soil was recognized, despite
deeds given by the Lords Proprietors and this right con-
tinued to be recognized long after the Revolution. Little by
little the Indians sold their lands to the white settlers and
went to the western country, many from New Jersey going
to Green Bay, Wisconsin. The few Indians that were left
were anxious to join their people in the West and so in
1822 the state of New Jersey made a bargain with the Indi-
ans by which the latter received $3,551.23 in return for the
last piece of land not then owned by the white settlers.
The Indians used this money in going West and in buying
land there. Ten years later they remembered that they
still had the right to hunt and fish in New Jersey, for when-
ever they had sold land it was agreed that they should be
permitted to continue hunting and fishing. There were
only forty New Jersey Indians left at Green Bay and these
thought New Jersey ought to pay them two thousand dollars
and they would call everything square. Two thousand dol-
lars looked like a big sum to these Indians but they received
THE EARLY WHITE SETTLERS 47
it promptly, thus ending the last claim they had to land and
rights in New Jersey. They wrote a letter of thanks to
New Jersey, in which they said :
Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle — not an acre
of land have you taken but with our consent. These are the facts
and we need say no more. We wish that other states where Indians
still live would do as New Jersey has done. Nothing but blessings can
fall upon her from the lips of a Lenni Lenape.
NAMES THE INDIANS LEFT US.
A number of places near Paterson still have the names
given to them by the Lenni Lenape. Among these are the
following :
Acquackanonk. This word is made up the Indian ach-
quoa-ni-can, meaning a brush net; hanne, a rapid stream;
onk, a place, and so it means a place in a rapid stream where
fish are taken with a brush net. As in numerous other
places in the Passaic river the Indians had built a V-shaped
dam; at the sharp point they placed a lot of brush; the
fish in coming down the stream became entangled in this
brush and the Indians secured them by suddenly pulling the
brush out of the water. Many of the Dutch settlers called
the place Slooterdam, which means a dam with a gate in it.
Others tried to pronounce it the way the Indians did. Now,
the Indian was not very plain pronouncing his words; in
fact, his speech sounded as if his tongue were thicker than
ours or as if he always had several pieces of chewing gum
in his mouth. So the early settlers had an easy time of it
spelling Acquackanonk, for they could spell it any way and
none could say they were wrong. Glancing over the early
records conveys the impression that the early settlers tried
to spell the name in a different way each time they were
called upon to write it. Here are some of the different
spellings found in ofl&cial records: 1678 — Aquickenuncke,
Haquicqueenock ; 1679 — Haquequenunck, Aquegnonke;
1680 — Hockquekanung; 1682 — Acqueyquinunke; 1683 —
48 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
Aquaninoncke, Hockquecanung; 1684 — Aquaquanuncke ;
1685 — Aquickanuncke, Haquequenunck ; 1692 — Acquica-
nunck; 1693 — Acquiggenonck ; Hockquickanon ; 1694 —
Hackquickanon ; 1696 — Aqueckanonge; Achquickenoungh,
Acquachanongue, Achquickanunk, Hackquickenunk ; 1689
— Aqueckkonunque, Aquoechononque, Achquikanuncque,
Achquickenonk ; 1706 — Acquikanong ; 1707 — Hockquacka-
nong, Hockquackanonk ; 1714 — Achquegenonck ; 1736 —
Haghquagenonck ; 1737 — Acquagkanonk. In later years,
when people were too busy to bother with so many letters,
the place was called Quacknick.
Campgaw, or Camp-Gaw, as it is frequently spelled.
Indian, kaaka, wild goose, and gawi, a hedgehog, perhaps
the names of two Indians combined into one.
Communipaw. Indian, gamunk, on the other side of
the river, and pe-auke, water-land, meaning the big landing-
place from the other side of the river.
Goffle. At this place two roads forked, one leading to
Hackensack and the other to Pompton. The Indians called
the place lalchauwiechen, which means the fork of a road. .
The Dutch translated the word "fork" iinto their own
language, gaffle; from gaffle to goffle is easy enough.
Hackensack. Indian haki, place ; gischi, now ; achgook,
snake ; a place with plenty of snakes.
Hoboken. Indian, hopoacan, a pipe.
Hohokus. Indian, ho, a shout ; hokes, bark of a tree.
According to the Indians the cold was so intense at this
place that the bark of the trees cracked with a loud noise.
Mahwah. Indian for field.
Macopin. Indian, macopanaackhan, place where;
pumpkins grow.
Moonachie. Indian, munhacke, a badger.
Pamrapo. Indian, pemapuchk, a big rock.
Paramus. Indian, a place for wild turkeys.
THE EARLY WHITE SETTLERS 49
Pascack. Indian, where the roads divide.
Passaic. Indian, pach, to split; ic, where. Perhaps
indicating the division of the land into a valley, or the
place where the river splits the rocks at the Falls. There
have been a number of changes in the spelling of this word.
It started out with Passaic in 1666, but changed the same
year into Passaick; in 1676 it was Pasayak, in 1679 Passa-
wack, Pisawick, Pissaick; in 1682 Pasawicke, Passaiack; in
1686 Pissaik; in 1695 Passaya, in 1713 Passaiack.
Peckman. A small river, near Little Falls, the proper
spelling being Peckamin. Indian, pakihm, cranberries.
Pequannock, with all its dififerent spellings. Indian,
pauqu-un-auke, land cleared for ploughing.
Preakness. • Indian, per-ukunces, a young buck.
Sicomac. Indian, kitchi, great, and kanik, enclosed
land.
Singack. Indian, schinghacki, a flat country, or schin-
gask, a marshy meadow.
Slank. Indian, sihillen, where the river subsides, and
hannek, a flowing river, the backwater from a freshet.
Succasunna. Indian, suken, black, and achsun, stone,,
black iron ore.
Totowa. Indian, tetauwi, between, that is, land be-
tween the river and the mountain. Or, perhaps the Lennie;
Lenape borrowed this word from the Cree totawew, mean-
ing great strength, as shown by the river at the Falls. "^^i*!
Wanaque or Wynockie. Indian, winak, sassafras, and
aki, place.
Wagaraw. Indian, woakeu, crooked, and aki, place,
that is, where the land is crooked, due to the bend in the
river.
Watchung. Indian, wachtschu, a hill, or wadchu, a
mountain.
Watsessing. Indian, wadchu, mountain, and achsun,
stone, a stony mountain.
Struggle for Industrial Supremacy.
Struggle for Industrial Supremacy.
Benjamin Franklin wrote in 1760 that it would take
"some centuries" to populate this country as far as the
Mississippi river, and that ''our present colonies will not,
during the period we have mentioned, find themselves in a
condition to manufacture, even for their own inhabitants,
to any considerable degree, much less for those who are
settling behind them." In 1768 he wrote that manufactures
were not desirable excepting for the purpose of making use
of the time of the children and servants of farmers. John
Adams wrote in 1780: "America will not make manufac-
tures enough for her own consumption these thousand
years." George Washington said that manufactures were
well enough for "women and children, without taking the
really necessary hand from tilling the earth." All of which
tends to show that even men with great brains make mis-
takes, especially when they try to look into the future.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON'S IDEAS.
Alexander Hamilton did not agree with these three
great men; he believed in manufacturing in this country
and, from what he did and from what he said in his letters,
it appears that he was willing to do it all. In 1790 he was
Secretary of the Treasury and the men who had been
elected in the various states to make laws asked him to tell
them what could be done towards manufacturing in this
country ; the men who asked this question, like most of the
other people here at that time, believed that America was
good only to raise crops of grain and fruit, and so Hamilton
64 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
was asked to answer the question put to him on the supposi-
tion that America might have to do some manufacturing on
account of possible wars in the future. Hamilton set to
work and wrote a long report, which he sent to the law-
makers on December 5, 1791. In this he said that there
were a great many articles which America could make and
that he knew of some men who had met and who were
ready to put up a great deal of money to start factories.
But he did not say that he was one of these men, which,
however, was the fact. At that time all cotton brought into
this country had to pay a tax to the government; Hamilton
thought this tax ought to be done away with; he went
further and said that men making cotton here ought to re-
ceive money from the government to help them along and
then added that this money should not be paid to all per-
sons, but only to such as had formed a company to weave
cotton. Hamilton did his best to take care of the company
he was about to form. Some time later he let it be known
that this company was ready to receive men who were
ready to join it, that is, men who had money. Hamilton
was a great man and people believed what he said and so it
was not long before men with money were heard from, all
anxious to be partners of Hamilton. Even some of the
Dutch bankers in Amsterdam, in Holland, wrote letters and
sent money in order to become partners. Newspapers in
New York, Philadelphia and Boston printed long articles,
telling wonderful stories about the money that would be
sure to be made by the "New National Manufactory," as
it was called. There is good reason to believe that Hamil-
ton wrote some of these articles. People were next told
that the big factory was to be built in New York, New
Jersey or Pennsylvania and this brought more money from
New York and Philadelphia. In this way altogether over a
hundred thousand dollars was promised. According to Ham-
ilton's letters he never had any idea of building the factory
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 65
anywhere else than at the falls of the Passaic, in the state
of New Jersey, at a place then called Acquackanonk. But
Hamilton did not make public this idea of his at the time,
for fear that some of the men who did not live near the
Passaic Falls might not contribute the money he expected
from them.
THE BIRTH OF THE SOCIETY.
Feeling certain that there would be plenty of money
for the factory, Hamilton next wrote a proposed law accord-
ing to which the name of the new company was to be the
Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures; this society
was to be given the right to build factories and also to start
a town and the name of this town was to be Paterson. Why
Paterson? Because Paterson was the name of the governor
of New Jersey and Hamilton wanted the lawmakers of New
Jersey to make the law he wanted and he thought it would
help him if he were to call the new town after the governor.
When the New Jersey lawmakers took the matter up they
were glad to oblige the great Secretary of the Treasury of
the United States and the governor of the state of New-
Jersey and so Hamilton got all he wanted. ;. „ i. r.,v
Before the law was passed there was a great deal of
talk among the lawmakers. It was settled that the new
town of Paterson with its big factories and its own govern-
ment was to be placed somewhere in New Jersey, but just
where the law did not say. Every member of the legisla-
ture wanted it in his own county. Lawmakers who saw
that chances of getting the town in the county they repre-
sented were poor made a fight against it. The people in
Middlesex county saw that their chances were poor and so
they did not want any other county to win. They thought
that a million dollars was too much money for any company
to have, and the law provided that the Society might have
56 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
just that much. But the funniest objection came from a
man who thought that it was wrong to give the Society the
right to build canals; he said that some lunatic might
think it would be fine if a canal were built from the Dela-
ware river to Raritan bay and that, if that were done,
many farms would be cut into two pieces so that farmers
could not get from one part to the other; it would kill all
the fruit trees and make everybody poor along the line of
the canal. Forty years afterwards that very canal was
built, not by the Society, but by other men, but none of the
horrible things happened which the man from Middlesex
county had seen in the future. After a great deal of talk
the lawmakers voted and the result was that Hamilton won
and the law, or charter, was passed, on November 22, 1791.
NAMING THE TOWN.
Who was William Paterson, after whom Paterson was
named? He was an Irishman, who arrived in this country
in 1745, when he was two years old. His parents took him
to Trenton, where they lived for some time; afterwards
they moved to Princeton and then to Somerville. He went
tc college at Princeton and then studied law in the office
of Richard Stockton, one of the men who signed the Decla-
ration of Independence. In 1775, when this country had
begun its war for freedom, he was elected to the Provincial
Congress, the body of men who made laws for the young
republic, and he was chosen secretary. He was made at-
torney-general of New Jersey and in 1790 elected governor
of the state. Afterwards Washington made him one of the
judges of the Supreme Court of the United States. So
Paterson has no reason to be ashamed of the name it was
given. Paterson died in Albany, New York, September 9,
1806.
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 57
THE state's unprofitable INVESTMENT.
A few days after the lawmakers of New Jersey had
made the law creating the Society for Establishing Useful
Manufactures they made another law by which $10,000
was taken from the state treasury and invested in the stock
of the Society. (The state probably never made a poorer
investment. It subsequently sold this stock to the So-
ciety, taking in exchange some acres of what even in those
days was called Sandy Hill. In later days, when the popula-
tion of Paterson had increased a great deal, the Sandy Hill
property was still considered about as poor as could be
found in the whole city. In order to get rid of it the state
sold it to various churches for burying grounds, the uniform
price paid being fifty dollars an acre. This was the origin
of the Sandy Hill cemeteries; it is only a few years ago
since the remains of the dead were removed from these
burying grounds and the property bought by the city.)
THE society's FIRST OPERATIONS.
Yet with everything that had been done for the Society
the total amount of money promised was only $243,000 in-
stead of the million dollars Hamilton and his friends had
looked for. Of the money promised $15,000 was never
paid.
The members of the Society met in New Brunswick on
the last Monday in November, 1791, and on the 9th of the
following month elected officers at a meeting also held in
New Brunswick. William Duer, a New York merchant,
was elected governor and John Bayard deputy governor.
Duer was related to Hamilton by marriage and it was Ham-
ilton who made him governor. At this same meeting a
letter was received from Hamilton in which he told about
engaging a number of men as superintendents of the factory
58 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
and, as these men had all worked in cotton mills, it was
plain that the Society was to make cotton goods. The di-
rectors approved of everything Hamilton had done. On
the following day the directors agreed to put advertisements
in newspapers asking men to answer who had lots for sale
on which factories might be built. On January 19 the di-
rectors agreed to bring men from England, forty or fifty at
least, men who knew how to weave and print cotton goods,
and they paid Hamilton and the governor fifty thousand
dollars to get these men to this country.
It will be seen that Hamilton and his friends were
getting along very nicely, but all they had done was only on
paper. They had a charter, but the charter was like the
man who was "all dressed up and nowhere to go." The
place where Paterson with its big factory was to be put had
not been selected. So, on January 20 the directors decided
that Paterson and its factory should be located on one of
three rivers, the Delaware, the Raritan or the Passaic, and
a committee was appointed to decide which.
At a meeting on the following day the directors con-
cluded that they had better get a little more money. The
charter of the Society gave them the right to make a hun-
dred thousand dollars by running a lottery and so the di-
rectors decided to have a lottery. Tickets were to be sold
at a few dollars each and each ticket was to be numbered ;
then some day a lot of numbers were to be placed in a
wheel and the first number taken out by chance would give
the man who had that number on his ticket a big cash
prize. There were a number of smaller prizes and the whole
thing was fixed up in a way which was all right in those
days but for which men would be sent to jail if they tried
it at the present day. On April 20 the directors gave up
the idea of having a lottery, as nobody seemed anxious to
buy tickets.
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 59
FIRST MEETING IN PATERSON.
Hamilton was present at three meetings of the directors
held in Newark on May 16, 17 and 18. It was then decided
that the town of Paterson should be located on the Passaic
river, between the residence of "Mr. Isaac Gouvemeur near
the town of Newark and Chatham Bridge." That was a
poor way of saying "at the Passaic Falls," but the directors
knew what they meant. So, on July 4, 1792, the directors
came to where Paterson is located today; they brought
with them the book in which they had written down all
they had done; this same book, in which is written the
advice of Alexander Hamilton as this advice fell from his
lips, is still used at the present day to record the doings of
the Society; there are only a few leaves left to write on,
but as the directors of the Society meet very seldom, it may
last some years yet; it is kept in the vaults of the water
company on Ellison street and it is from this book that the
writer has received a great deal of the information con-
tained in this chapter.
When the directors of the Society came to the place
they had agreed to call Paterson, they found very few houses
here. They met General Schuyler at the house of Abraham
Godwin and the general and Mr. Godwin took them around
and showed them the country. They put their heads to-
gether and agreed to dig two canals from above the Falls to
make use of the water to turn the wheels of the factory.
One of these canals was to empty into the river near Pas-
saic and the other near Newark and it was at the latter
place that Governor Duer said the factory ought to be built.
Hamilton wanted to know where the money was coming
from to dig all these miles of canals and when he insisted
that the factory should be built a great deal nearer the
Falls they all agreed with him. They then bought about
seven hundred acres above and below the Falls, paying
60 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
therefor the sum of three thousand, two hundred and nme-
ty-three pounds, eight shillings and three pence. On July 5
the directors resolved to build at onoe: a mill for spinning
cotton; a print works for cotton goods, calicoes; another
mill for spinning and also for weaving, and a number of
houses for the people who were to work in these mills. On
the following day they decided that the number of houses
for the workmen should be fifty, that each house should be
twenty-four by eighteen feet in size, with cellar and garret,
and that these houses, together with a quarter of an acre of
land each, should be rented for $12.50 a year each or sold for
$250 to any workmen who would agree to pay that sum
within twenty years. Bargains just as good for more ex-
pensive houses were offered to the superintendents. The
directors also agreed to put up a saw mill at once.
BIG IDEAS BUT LITTLE MONEY.
To do all this work it was necessary to have an en-
gineer and so the Society engaged the services of Major
Charles Pierre L'Enfant, a Frenchman who had come to this
country in Lafayette's army. The major was a friend of
Hamilton and of Washington and he had just laid out the
city of Washington. He had some big ideas and when he
had looked the ground over and told what he was going to
do the newspapers stated that Paterson would be a city
that would ''far surpass anything yet seen in this country."
He intended to lay out Paterson as h-e had Washington, the
central point here being a small elevation between what are
now Main, Grand and Ward streets and sloping down almost
to where the Erie tracks now are. The hill was afterwards
known as Colt's Hill. From this hill were to be laid out a
large number of avenues running to distant points of the
future city.
The newspapers of the day spoke in high terms of the
future of the "National Manufactory," and the big city that
STRUGGLE FOB INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 61
was to be attached to it. One article, which took up about
three columns, was published in several newspapers; it was
probably written by Hamilton. The following are some of
the articles that were to be made: cotton, woolens, paper
for books and for walls, hats of straw and felt, shoes and
leather goods generally, carriages,, pottery of all kinds,
bricks, iron pots, steel buttons. The land in and about
Paterson became very valuable.
All this sounds very big, even in the present day of big
doings, but the dreams of Hamilton and his friends were
not always very pleasant. A great deal of success was ex-
pected to come on account of the wealth and influence of
William Duer, the governor of the Society, but there had
been trouble in the markets of New York and Duer found
himself in jail because he could not pay his debts. Of
course, Hamilton did not like this, for Duer was his friend
and a jail is not a good place in which to direct the putting
up of buildings fifteen miles away. Of all the money that
had been promised the Society had received only $60,000
and so the Society was short of cash. The banks in New York
did not want to lend the Society any money ; at last $5,000
was received as a loan from the Bank of New York, but
only after Hamilton had given his written security as he
did when he wrote to the president of the bank: "To you,
my dear sir, I will not scruple to say, in confidence, that the
bank of New York shall suffer no diminution of its pecuni-
ary facilities from any accommodation it may afford to the
Society in question."
THE FIRST MILL IN PATERSON.
In the mean time Major L'Enfant had been making
more plans ; he wanted to build a big raceway, running from
above the Falls to where Passaic now stands; this raceway
was to be built of solid masonry, high up in the air, and
62 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
there were to be mills and factories along both sides. So
the Society employed the major to build a tavern and then
got rid of him. In his place came Peter Colt, a man with no
big ideas but with a great deal of common sense. He got
together a number of men with picks and shovels and built
a raceway just about the way people built them in those
days, with no masonry or fancy trimmings. But the direc-
tors of the Society were anxious to begin spinning cotton,
for the men were here for that purpose, and the directors
would not wait until the water was let into the raceway to
turn the wheels of the big factory yet to be built. Peter
Colt therefore put up a small frame mill, in which the power
needed to turn the wheels was furnished by an ox ; and so it
happened that the first mill ever built in Paterson to spin
cotton was named the Bull Mill. Then work was begun
on the big mill ; a street was laid out in front of where it was
to be built and this street was named Mill street and it has
that name to the present day. The mill was built of stone
and wood and was four stories high; on top of it was a
cupola and in this hung a bell which called the men to work.
A building, where printing and bleaching calico was to be
done, was erected on what is now Bridge street. A great
deal of the machinery was brought from Europe, for there
were few machine shops in this country. Some small fittings
of brass and iron were brought from Wilmington, Delaware,
the nearest place to Paterson where such things were made.
A man was given fifty thousand dollars, with which to bring
men and machinery from Europe; just as if Hamilton and
his friends did not have trouble enough, the man disap-
peared with the money. The big mill did not begin work
until 1794.
ALL MANUFACTURING ABANDONED.
In the meantime the Society was trying to raise more
money and, as it was badly needed, the directors fell back
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 63
on the lottery scheme. They offered to pay people for selling
tickets, but very few persons wanted the tickets. When an
attempt was made to sell them in Boston and New York,
it was found that laws had been passed there forbidding lot-
teries; the Society asked the lawmakers of New York to
change the law in the interest of the big "National Manu-
factory," but the lawmakers would not do as requested.
Finally the whole lottery scheme was thrown aside and the
Society, instead of making money out of it, lost a large part
of the little that was left.
Then came what was probably the first strike in Pater-
son: the hands employed in the bleaching and printing
wanted more wages; the Society settled the strike very
promptly by closing the works on Bridge street and dis-
continuing bleaching and printing. As a final effort to raise
money the Society reduced the prices of its houses and lots,
but times were hard and nobody wanted to buy, and so, in
January, 1796, the directors closed up the big mill and went
out of the business of manufacturing and never resumed it
afterwards. Fire destroyed the mill in 1807.
THE FAMOUS COLT FAMILY.
Peter Colt was born in Lyme, Conn. At the breaking
out of the Revolution he enlisted in the American army
and had a command under Aaron Burr in the attack on
Canada. He was subsequently aid to General Worcester in
the regiments from Connecticut. He spoke French fluently
and Washington made use of this in his intercourse with the
French army. He was with the French army at the sur-
render of Cornwallis at Yorktown. After peace had been
declared he returned to Connecticut and, while treasurer of
that state, was induced to come to Paterson at the solicita-
tion of Dr. Elias Boudinot, whom he had met some years
previous at Boonton. He had two sons, John and Roswell
64 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
L., the latter frequently referred to as "the greatest of all
the Colts." John was active in various manufacturing en-
terprises in early Paterson ; his son, E. Boudinot, carried on
the manufacture of duck until 1865, occupying the Duck
mill on Van Houten street and the Essex mill on Mill
street.
Samuel Colt, a distant relative, was the inventor of
the celebrated Colt's revolver. He made his first pistol, of
wood, in 1829 ; in 1835 he organized the Patent Arms com-
pany, which had possession of the building even now known
as the Gun mill. He subsequently removed to Connecti-
cut.
ROSWELL L. COLT.
"The greatest of all the Colts" had made a great deal
of money in the shipping business and had married a woman
who had a great deal more than he had ; she was the daugh-
ter of Robert Oliver, a shipping merchant of Baltimore, con-
sidered at that time one of the wealthiest men in the
country. Roswell L. was attracted to Paterson and made
up his mind that he would buy the whole place. In order
to do this he got $150,000 from his father-in-law and he
soon owned about all there was of Paterson. He had been
married a good many years when he determined to live in
Paterson. He looked about for a place on which to erect a
mansion and selected the small hill on what is now Main
street, opposite the county jail, the same small hill which
Major L'Enfant had intended to make the centre of Pater-
son. He told his wife about it, but she would have none of
it; the idea of erecting a residence on a small sandhill when
there was such a fine site as Garret mountain nearby did
not appeal to her. She insisted on living on Garret moun-
tain and she would live nowhere else, unless it were in
Europe. As the two could not agree on this question they
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 65
determined to separate and this they did. When it came
to dividing the children — there were ten of them — they did
not do so according to the number to be divided, but in
accordance with the wealth of the parents. It was finally
agreed that Mrs. Colt should^ take six and have the first
pick. She selected the six oldest and took them to Europe
with her, where she died some years later.
Work was at once begun at the erection of Colt's Hill.
Hundreds of men were employed at carting soil and big
trees and shrubbery to the small sandhill and in the course
of time that small sandhill assumed majestic proportions: on
the very top was built a mansion which has become historic,
for it was there that Roswell L. Colt entertained Daniel
Webster and other great men of his day. He had a large
retinue of servants and lived in princely style. The picture
of Colt's Hill, which appears on an adjoining page, was
taken from the roof of St. John's Catholic church when that
building was in the course of erection. There were twO'
roads leading to the mansion, one from what is now De-
Grasse street and the other from the comer of Main and
Ward streets ; the old lodge still stands on that corner. The
small building showing in the picture was the dwelling of
the gatekeeper; the long building represents the hothouses.
For many years Roswell L. Colt, with his four children^
Thomas, Roswell, Jr., Morgan G. and Julia, later the wife
of DeGrasse B. Fowler, lived in this mansion.
TAM O'SHANTER AND SOUTER JOHNNIE.
In the picture will be observed two statues standing at
the entrance of the mansion as it faces Grand street. There
is an interesting history connected with these two statues.
James Thom was born, April 19, 1802, in Scotland, near a
place where Robert Burns had lived for some years. He was
a poor lad and was set to work in a factory where he showed
66 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
a disposition to carving things out of wood. Some friends
helped him along and he began cutting out of stone two
statues representing Burns's principal characters, Tam 0'
Shanter and Souter Johnnie. The statues were at once
pronounced works of art and Thom became famous. The
first two he made were exhibited throughout the British
isles and netted the sum of two thousand pounds, which was
divided equally between Thom and the committee having
charge of the erection of the Burns monument at Alloway.
Thom tried his hand at other statues but these did not in-
crease his fame and, as he had received orders from men of
wealth for no less than sixteen replicas of his Tam O'Shanter
and Souter Johnnie, he devoted himself to chiseling out
Tams and Johnnies. He made considerable money exhibit-
ing his statues, when one day he found out that an agent he
had trusted had decamped to America, taking with him a
<;onsiderable sum of money belonging to Thom. Thom at
once chased to America after him, but when he had recov-
ered what was his due he concluded that America was a good
country to live in, and so determined to stay. His fame had
preceded him and he obtained the contract for furnishing
the ornamental stonework on the present Trinity church in
New York. He looked about the neighborhood for suitable
stone and decided on the red sandstone at Little Falls. He
subsequently removed to Ramapo where he lived the life of
a gentleman farmer until the day of his death, April 17,
1850.
While he was working at his contract with the Trinity
church people he made another pair of Tam O'Shanter and
Souter Johnnie, his intention being to exhibit them in this
country. Roswell L. Colt saw them and at once bought
them, for he wanted something as an ornament for his
piazza. Thom made another pair and these started on an
exhibition tour throughout the country; while being ferried
across Chesapeake Bay the boat sprang a leak in a storm
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STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 67
and went down, Tarn and Johnnie and all. This left Roswell
L. Colt as the only possessor of a Tarn O'Shanter and Souter
Johnnie in this country and added to the fame of his man-
sion. The two statues have been reproduced on numerous
occasions in bronze and other metals.
A woman called one day at the Colt mansion to see the
owner. She went to the kitchen entrance and inquired
when Mr. Colt would be at leisure. She was told that Mr.
Colt was not at home, but she declared that he was, for she
had just seen him talking to one of his friends on the piazza
and she was near enough to him to recognize him. This
may afford the reader some idea as to what Roswell L. Colt
looked like.
In 1889 Morgan G. Colt and Mrs. DeGrasse B. Fowler,
the two surviving children of Roswell L. Colt, determined
to cut down Colt's Hill in order that the property might be
put in the market. (The hill was removed two years later.)
The mansion had long been abandoned as a residence, Tam
O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie standing guard in solitary
grandeur. So the owners of the precious pair made a present
of them to the trustees of the Public Library and they were
transferred to the entrance of the old library building on the
corner of Market and Church streets, and here they ended
their existence in the great fire in February, 1902.
NAMING THE STREETS OF PATERSON.
Roswell L. Colt did a great deal for the city of Pater-
son : his attempts at re-establishing manufacturing did not
prove successful, but he will ever live in grateful remem-
brance on account of his numerous gifts to churches and
other institutions in Paterson. He had a great deal to do
with shaping the destiny of the city.
Peter Colt had begun laying out streets and naming
them and Roswell continued in his father's footsteps. Be-
68 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
tween the two and a few others streets in Paterson were
named as follows : ,
Boudinot street, named after Elias Boudinot, is the
present Van Houten street, between Main street and the
raceways. Van Houten street, named after Abraham Van
Houten, who assisted Peter Colt in the laying out of the
street, originally began about where Washington street
crosses it at the present day and extended easterly. When
the hill between Washington and Main streets was cut down
Van Houten street was extended through to Main street;
as it came out directly opposite Boudinot street, both streets
were thenceforth called Van Houten.
There was a somewhat similar state of affairs as far as
Ellison street is concerned. It was Ellison street from
Washington eastwardly and John street from Washington
street to Mill. In the course of time the two streets were
called Ellison. Dr. Ellison, after whom the street is named,
was one of the earliest practicing physicians in the city;
John Clarke, after whom John street was named, was among
the early manufacturers.
Abraham Willis, while he was laying out streets, named
one after himself, a name changed to Park avenue when the
city acquired the Eastside Park.
Oliver was the maiden name of Mrs. Roswell L. Colt.
Mill street was named because on it was built the first
mill of any size in Paterson.
Cross street derived its name because it crossed from
Market to Oliver.
The history of Market street is somewhat similar to
that of Van Houten and Ellison streets. The thoroughfare
running from where the city hall is now located westerly
to Spruce street was named Congress by Judge Boudinot.
From the present city hall westerly it was named Market;
its width to where the Erie tracks are now located was made
ninety feet, for it was the intention at the time to construct
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 69
a market building through the middle of the street, a long
frame shed for the accommodation of farmers, butchers and
others who had goods for sale. Subsequently the name Con-
gress was abandoned for the westerly part of the street and it
was all called Market.
Godwin street was named in honor of the patriotic
Godwin family.
Bank street was named in 1824 because the Peoples
Bank did business on the corner of that street and Ryerson
street.
Vreeland avenue was originally named Buttermilk
lane; its name was changed in honor of the Vreelands who
lived there during the Revolutionary war and the Vreelands
— Michael Hartman and Cornelius — who ran a tannery and
saw mill on the stream which formerly emptied into the
river at the foot of Twentieth avenue.
The triangular plot bounded by Park avenue, Market
street and Straight street was known as the Bowery and is
thus referred to in many old deeds. About half a mile east
of the Bowery stood a tavern named Peace and Plenty and
this gave that name to the neighborhood.
GARRET ROCK AND GARRET MOUNTAIN.
There is a vague tradition that a man named Garret
one day lost his way on the mountain and tumbled down
the precipice now known as Garret Rock and that in this
way the mountain and rock obtained their name. There is
no foundation whatever for the story, for the mountain and
rock received their name in an altogether different way. In
old records the mountain is called Wesel ; the rock seems to
have got along without any specific name. Occasionally
reference is found to te Gebergte or te Gebarrack, "at the
mountain." The name Garret does not appear until 1811.
About that time there were in Paterson a number of men
70 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
of a jolly disposition who formed a society called the Garret
Society, because their meetings were held in a garret. The
motto of the society was "Keep Dark." The object of the
society was to have a good time when none but members
were looking on, and to indulge in all sorts of pranks. The
leader of the society was John Crawford, a carpenter who
had come from Newark to work at the erection of the resi-
dence for Peter Colt, afterwards the city hall of Paterson.
One evening the society agreed to celebrate the Fourth of
July by discharging a big cannon from the top of the Wesel
mountain. The question was how to get the cannon up
there and the job was undertaken by Crawford, who had a
great deal of well-developed muscle. So on the evening of
the 3d John shouldered the cannon and hied himself moun-
tainward. Just as the first rays of the sun on the fourth
were peeping above the Palisades John fired the cannon
and, as quickly as he could reload it, he fired it again and
again in rapid succession. The people of Paterson were
naturally very much surprised at this rude awakening from
their peaceful slumbers, but after a moment's reflection they
did, as they had done for some time whenever anything out .
of the usual happened : they said, "That's the Garret crowd
again." They had concluded that the Garret society had
changed its place of meeting from the customary garret to
the top of the mountain and ever after the mountain was
referred to as Garret mountain and the rock as Garret rock.
THE S. U. M. OF TODAY.
After the failure of the Society for Establishing Useful
Manufactures in the field of manufacturing, its directors
held few meetings, for there was little or nothing for them
to do. They pursued the policy known at the present day
as "watchful waiting." They did not have to wait long, for
power to run machinery was worth money and there was a
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 71
lot of it running to waste down the Falls. All the early
manufacturers who came to Paterson obtained their power
from the Society, for the Society owned the Falls. Contrary
to a widespread impression the charter of the Society does
not give it any peculiar rights in the Passaic river; it has
the same rights which every owner of property along a river
has, the right to the undiminished flow of the water. A man
living along a stream has the right to use the water for
ordinary domestic purposes, but he cannot divert the water
so as to injure people who own property below him. The
Society's most valuable possession is the Falls and it paid
cash for that property; it has the right to make all the
money possible out of it, just as a man can do with an oil
well or a gold mine on his property. This right of the So-
ciety was disputed in the case of the Morris canal ; the peo-
ple owning the canal took water out of the river, but the
courts soon put a stop to that, for the Society was entitled
to the full flow of the river; water taken out of the river
above Paterson could not turn machinery in Paterson^ ;
The Society accordingly increased its raceways; mills
and factories were erected along these raceways and all paid
money to the Society for the use of the water for power.
The charge for the use of the water depended upon the size"-
of the pipe or conduit supplying the mill or factory, the*
basis being a charge of $400 per year for one square foot, .
this being equal to fifteen horse power. About 1865 tJae-"
demand for water power was so great that the Society in-
creased the size of the dam above the Falls and then charged
for the surplus water thus obtained ; manufacturers leasing
power paid $400 per square foot under their contract and
then $900 per square foot for the surplus water. The So-
ciety's income in this way was increased to about $70,000
per year. At the present day the Society receives $1,200
per square foot from such manufacturers as do not require
72 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
a great deal of water; from this figure the price goes down
to $800 per square foot for larger quantities.
A MATTER OF WATER SUPPLY.
When in 1854 a number of prominent men in Paterson
-undertook to secure a water supply for this city they found
it necessary to consult the Society. No understanding being
arrived at, because the Society wanted every drop of water
.above the Falls to turn into its raceways, the first supply
for Paterson was taken out of the river below the Falls ; it
was from there pumped to a reservoir above the Falls and
from there flowed by gravity into the pipes which supplied
the people of Paterson. Subsequently an arrangement was
made by which the water was taken from above the Falls
and pumped into the reservoir by means of a wheel placed
in the Falls. Then a suggestion was made that the city
.ought to buy the water works, but the voters said No, be-
cause the water company did not have rights which were
worth the price asked. A few years ago the voters said Yes
to the same question, but nothing was done, as the proposi-
tion was too great and complicated.
Even the state shrank from the proposition when there
•was talk about the state taking charge of the water supply
in northern New Jersey, but what the state would not do
some men with plenty of money were willing to try. The
first man to undertake the task was John R. Bartlett and
the first step he took was to buy out the Society, so that he
eould do with the Passaic river water what he liked. Mr.
Bartlett had a notion in his head which may seem funny at
this day. He wanted to take the water of the Passaic river
and lead it to New York. In order to do this he would have
to build a tunnel under the Hudson. Some men before this
time had begun work on such a tunnel, but not in order to
carry water but for foot passengers. These men did not
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 73
have enough money to finish the tunnel and so Mr. Bartlett
bought what there was of it. The tunnel had been started
at Hoboken and the New York end was to be at Washing-
ton square. Mr. Bartlett spent a good deal of money on
this tunnel before he gave it up, having come to the con-
clusion that the water in northern New Jersey could be
more readily sold to the people in northern New Jersey.
Mr. Bartlett sold his tunnel and it was completed many
years later and now connects Hoboken with Christopher
street, New York.
The river water below Paterson was growing worse until
at last the Newark people said that they could stand it no
longer ; they must have clean water and Paterson must stop
emptying its sewers into the river. Paterson was ready with
its answer. A man had been employed who had gone to
Newark and dropped some marked sticks into the river right
in the middle where the river flows through Newark; he
watched those sticks and saw that the tide carried them up
the river, higher and higher, until at last he saw them at
Belleville and it was at Belleville that Newark had its pumps
to take the water out of the river for itself and also for
Jersey City. What sticks would do sewage would do and it
was plain that Newark and Jersey City were drinking not
only Paterson's sewage, but Newark's as well. Newark
ceased scolding Paterson for polluting the river and turned
to Mr. Bartlett and the men who were his partners. And
this is just what they were waiting for. They knew that
Newark would have to come, for Newark could do nothing
without the Society and they owned the Society. So the
men who had put so much money into the water scheme and
the authorities of Newark got together and the result was
that a bargain was struck by which Newark was to have a
water supply of fifty million gallons a day and was to pay
therefor six million dollars. Building water works for a city
under such circumstances was something entirely new but
74 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
the engineer who had been employed to look after the work
was sure that it could be done at a profit of over a million
dollars. So work was begun to make the Pequannock river
yield a regular water supply to the city of Newark. Two
reservoirs, Clinton and Oak Ridge, were built. The water
from these reservoirs runs down the Pequannock river to
Macopin, where a large basin, or intake, was built, and from
this Newark was to be supplied by means of a steel pipe
forty-eight inches in diameter. According to the figures of
the engineer fifty million gallons a day will pass through
a forty-eight inch pipe. But water from natural sources
carries with it the seeds of a moss and these seeds quickly
take root along the inside of any kind of pipe. That is just
what happened in this case and the result was that Newark
was not getting fifty million gallons of water a day, for the
moss had reduced the carrying capacity of the pipe. There
was nothing to be done but to lay another pipe and this
cost a great deal of money. Then Newark measured the
two reservoirs and found that they would not hold enough
water to supply Newark in a dry season. Canistear reser-
voir was built and, as even this was not quite suflBcient to
hold the water needed, Macopin lake, or Echo lake, as it
is frequently called, was turned over to Newark. The men
who had taken this big job figured up how they stood and
found that they had spent seven and a half million dollars
and that instead of making a million and a half they were
just about that much out of pocket.
About this time the people of Jersey City set up a cry
for clean water and a man named Patrick H. Flynn agreed
to give them a supply for seven and a half million dollars.
He bought the rights owned by the Society for Establishing
Useful Manufactures in the Rockaway river and began work.
But he did not have enough money to carry it through and
the men who had supplied Newark with water took the job
off his hands, this time making a good profit. But these
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 75
same men had been making money in other contracts of the
same kind. In 1894 they organized the New Jersey General
Security Company and into the treasury of this company
went everything in the way of water rights and contracts.
This company now supplies Paterson, Passaic, Clifton, Glen
Ridge, Montclair, Orange, West Orange, Bloomfield, Nutley,
Bayonne, Little Falls, Kearney, Harrison and East Newark
with water. It owns the Society for Establishing Useful
Manufactures and the Dundee Water Power & Land Com-
pany; this latter company owns the dam in the Passaic
river just below Paterson and supplies many factories in
Passaic with power.
Taking so much water out of the river, which might
have run down to Paterson, made trouble for the Society,
for the Society had promised to keep a number of factories
and mills supplied with water to turn the wheels which
make the machinery go. In some cases the Society had sold
factories with a promise that the water would never be cut
off from those factories. The Society could not keep its
promises on account of the water taken out for Newark,
Jersey City and other places. In order to get out of this
trouble, and also to sell more water, the Society a few years
ago put up the buildings which may be seen in the basin
below the Falls. Electric power is now made by the water
which comes down the river and this power is sent to the
factories and mills the Society has promised to supply with
power. But the Society has more power than it needs and
it sells this to the Edison company which uses it to run street
cars; in turn, the Society buys power from the Edison com-
pany when there is not enough water coming down the river
to make the amount of power wanted by the Society.
The question will now be asked : How about Paterson's
water supply? It is a question easily answered. Some days
a great deal of water runs down the river ; some days very
little and none at all for a few days nearly every year. Men
76 FOUR CHAPTERS OP PATERSON HISTORY
have been employed for a great many years to keep an ac-
count of this flow of water; their figures show that if the
whole amount of water that flowed down the river in twenty
years was divided by the whole number of days in twenty
years 1282 cubic feet of water would flow down the river
every second. Newark takes about seventy cubic feet per
second ; Jersey City takes about seventy-five and the water
companies supplied by the New Jersey General Security
Company take about seventy-two. In the latter figure are
included the thirteen cubic feet used by Paterson. It is
consequently not a question of the supply of water, but of
storage during dry seasons.
Four rivers empty their waters into the Passaic: The
Pequannock, Rockaway, Ramapo and Wanaque. Newark
owns the Pequannock, Jersey City the Rockaway. The
points where the water is taken are high enough so that no
pumping is necessary. But pumping would be necessary if
the Ramapo were taken for a water supply, for it lies low.
So for the present at least the Ramapo is out of the ques-
tion. There remains the Wanaque, a river which gets its
water from mountains and springs; it lies high and could
supply Paterson and Newark without any pumping. As
Newark will soon need an additional water supply, Newark
has applied to the state authorities for permission to take
the Wanaque, for the state has recently done what the state
should have done half a century ago, taken hold of the
matter of water supply. Newark has obtained the desired
permission with the understanding that Paterson is to share
in it at any time Paterson may want to do so. In the mean
time Paterson will continue taking its water as it is pumped
from the river near Little Falls.
Sometimes the quantity of water in the Passaic river is
too much for the comfort of some people living in Paterson.
During the past forty years Paterson has had four floods
which did considerable damage. The quantity of water
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 77
flowing down the river was enormous on those occasions. A
cubic foot of water is equal to 7.4805 gallons; on December
12, 1878, 16,000 cubic feet of water passed down the river
every second; on September 25, 1882, 18,200; on March 2,
1902, 21,300; on October 10, 1903, 28,000.
AN ANCIENT GRIST MILL.
In 1810 there was a freshet in the river and it washed
away a grist mill which stood along the river just above
where the West street bridge now stands. That grist mill
had stood there a good many years ; few people knew when
it had been built and it was only in later years that papers
were found which showed that it was built as early as 1737.
Hendrick Spier owned the property as far back as 1714 but
his land ran only to the river. John Joralemon bought the
property in 1737 and in the same year Adrian A. Post and
Juriaen Thomasse bought it from an Indian named Tahtho-
chear, but neither of these deeds went as far as the bank
of the river, being only for the island and the bottom of the
river on both sides of it. The Indian deed was decided not
to be worth anything as far as the Spier property was con-
cerned and the result was that Joralemon had the water and
Spier the place where a grist mill could be erected. The
two went into partnership and built the first grist mill in
what are now the limits of the city of Paterson.
METAL, PAPER AND BOBBINS.
When Alexander Hamilton and his friends said that
Paterson was to be the place for the one big factory in the
new world, people began to come to Paterson in order to
get a share of all the good things that were promised. Some
of these people received floor space in the Society's mill and
others set up shops and mills in other places.
John Clarke was making articles of brass and tin in
1794 and in the following year he moved to the Society's
78 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
mill and remained there until the mill burned down. For
some time he worked at his trade in the old grist mill at the
foot of Mulberry street; then he moved to lower Broadway.
In 1825 his successor, Horatio Moses, had his shop on Van
Houten street, south side, below Main. Either Clark or
Moses hung out as a sign a big brass dog, carrying a kettle
in its mouth ; the sign was not taken down until a few years
ago.
Before 1802 paper was all made in sheets; it was first
made in a roll in 1802 in Paterson by Charles Kinsey, who
had a paper mill on Van Houten street, below where the
Edison works stand today. The name of the firm was Kin-
sey, Crane & Fairchild; Kinsey had the brains and Crane
and Fairchild the money. When people thought that a great
deal of money was to be made by manufacturing cotton
goods, Crane and Fairchild did not want to bother any
longer with making paper and so they turned the paper mill
into a cotton mill.
Thomas Van Houten made bobbins at Cedar Grove for
use in the Society's mill ; he cut down trees and with a buck
saw cut the wood into small pieces; then with a chisel and
brace he made the bobbins. In 1805 he took his brother
Dirck into partnership and they moved their workshop to
the Peckamin river, between Paterson and Little Falls. In
1827 the brothers came to Paterson and put up a frame mill
along the river where Clinton street now ends and they
remained there for seven years, when Thomas died. The
industry has changed hands frequently since that time; at
the present it is the Van Riper Manufacturing Company on
lower Van Houten street.
AN EARLY ADVERTISER.
John Parke was one of the early citizens of Paterson
who made people know he was here. He was making candle-
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 79
wicks in the Society's mill when that building was burned
down in 1807; he then built a mill for cotton spinning on
Van Houten street ; this mill is today a part of the Phoenix
silk mills. In addition to making cotton he kept a store in
Paterson. He found that it paid to advertise his store and
so he thought it would pay him to advertise his cotton
business and Paterson at the same time. In those days
goods were shipped from Paterson by being taken in wagons
to the river below Passaic; here they were loaded into
schooners and in that way taken to Philadelphia, which
seems to have been the place where most of the goods made
in Paterson were sold. Parke changed all this. He bought
some large wagons, painted them all sorts of gaudy colors
and then hitched either four or six horses to each for the
trip to Philadelphia. In that way people living between
Paterson and Philadelphia learned that there was such a
place as Paterson and that John Parke made calico and kept
a store there. Parke kept this up for some years but in
1812 could make no more calico; the United States was at
war with England and no cotton came from the South;
there were no railroads in those days and cotton was brought
to the North in sailing vessels and these would probably
have fallen into the hands of the English if they had left the
ports in the South. So Parke had to close up his factory
and a short time after he found that he did not have enough
to pay his debts. Afterwards he was postmaster of Pater-
son and one of the judges of the county courts.
QUARREL ABOUT A DAM.
Standing on the Main street bridge and looking down
the river, or standing on the Arch street bridge and looking
up the river, the principal object seen nowadays is a dam.
That dam was built in 1838 by William Stagg in order to
give power to turn the wheels of his grist mill, which stood
80 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
on the north side of the river near the foot of Clinton street,
where the Pope mill now stands. Stagg had trouble before
he was ready for business. The True Reformed Dutch
church had property near where Stagg wanted to build his
mill and the people of the church did not like the idea of
having a grist mill so near to their church. So they went
to court about it and three men were appointed to settle the
matter. These three men decided in favor of Stagg, as all
persons may read in their report, in which they say "that
the church people must not mislest or prevent Stagg from
erecting his mill and dam on said sight without any truble
or Damage of expence from them or their suckcessors."
THE SILK INDUSTRY.
Everybody in Paterson knows that there are a great
many silk mills in Paterson but everybody does not know
who started this industry. In 1839 one of the big silk mills
in Macclesfield, England, was owned by two brothers, Reu-
ben and William Ryle. Another brother, John, was working
for them as superintendent. Reuben and William thought
that perhaps they might do some business in this country if
they had somebody to look after selling their silks here. So
they asked John to take the job. This suited John very
well, for he had long had a desire to come to this country.
He went looking around when he got here and at one time
held the position of superintendent of a small silk mill in
Northampton, Mass.; here he became acquainted with
George W. Murray, who had been interested in the silk
business in England. Reuben and William wrote to their
brother, saying that he had been sent to this country to look
after their business and that it was about time he opened
a store here where they could sell their silks. So John went
to New York where he opened a store on the comer of
William street and Maiden lane. Here Mr. Murray came
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 81
to see him and talked him into going to Paterson to see what
chance there was for a silk mill here. Mr. Ryle came to
Paterson where he met Christopher Colt, a man who had
tried making silk in the old Gun mill in the Valley of the
Rocks; three months of silk had been all that Mr. Colt
wanted and he had quit. Mr. Ryle reported to Mr. Murray
and then the two came out here and the result was that Mr.
Murray bought the Gun mill, J&Ued it up with silk machinery
and placed Mr. Ryle in charge. What was made was sew-
ing silk and that silk in those days was sold in skeins, for
spools had not been thought of. About this time Elias
Howe had begun his invention of sewing machines; the
main trouble he had was to feed the silk to the needle; he
found it hard to do this when the thread came only in
skeins. So he spoke to Mr. Ryle and the result was that
Mr. Ryle found a way of putting silk on spools; the first
silk thread used on sewing machines came from Paterson.
This was very good for both the maker of sewing machines
and the maker of the silk thread. Mr. Murray took Mr.
Ryle into partnership and the firm of Murray & Ryle made
money ; in 1846 Mr. Ryle bought out Mr. Murray's interest
in the business and continued it alone. He built a new mill,
which he named Murray after his former partner ; this mill
was burned down, but Mr. Ryle at once began work on the
Murray mill where silk is still made at the present day.
Such was the beginning of the silk industry in America,
for before Mr. Ryle took hold of the matter, the silk made
in this country was not worth talking about. To the people
of Paterson the silk industry has been a great help. When
there were "hard times," and the locomotive works were
closed for several years, the silk mills kept on working ; the
wages were not as high as in the locomotive works, but
people learned that even low wages were better than no
wages at all.
82 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
In Paterson is to be found every branch of the silk
industry with the exception of taking the silk thread from
the cocoon, where it was spun by the worm, and putting it
up in skeins. This work is done in countries where people
are satisfied with wages of a few cents a day. Some attempts
at growing silk have been made in Paterson and in several
places in the city mulberry trees may still be seen. The
leaves of these trees are what silk worms are fond of and
so these trees were brought here to feed the silk worms.
The silk worms did their part and some people even took
the silk threads from the cocoons and it was worked up into
articles; this was amusement and curiosity but not work
that paid. An attempt at raising silk in Georgia some years
ago had a similar result.
In the early days of the industry all the raw silk came
from Italy, France, China and Turkey, and it cost between
three and four dollars a pound. Then the Japanese wanted
to know if they could not send some of their silk this way
and were told to do so and be welcome, especially as they
offered it for two dollars a pound. The Japanese had always
been known as making the finest kind of silk goods and the
Paterson silk men felt happy because they would be able to
make the same kind and then make ever so much more
money on account of the low price they would pay the
Japanese for the raw material. Just there is where they
made a mistake. When the Japanese silk arrived it was
found to be so fine that only the thinnest kind of goods
could be made out of it, goods that looked like fine veils.
Paterson silk workers called it "everlasting," because it took
so long to weave a yard. It was not liked for weaving in
Paterson and nobody wanted to buy the goods, because they
were so thin. But it was all used, for the Paterson silk
weavers twisted four threads of it together and then they
had a thread just as thick as any silk that had ever been
used in the Paterson silk mills. But the Japanese also
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 88
found out that they could get more money for the silk and
so they quickly sent the price up until their silk cost just
as much as other silk. Raw silk went up in price to ten
dollars a pound during the civil war ; then it went back to
three or four dollars a pound ; during the great world's war
it went back to ten dollars a pound, but after fighting had
stopped it went down again.
Bury a spool of silk thread, a spool of woollen thread
and a spool of cotton thread into the ground ; dig there some
years later and it will be found that the spools, the wool and
the cotton have gone; they have all rotted and all that is
left is the silk and that is just as good as it was when it was
buried. Silk is therefore the most lasting of all stuffs
that dresses, ribbons and thread can be made of ; it does not
rot and it is hard to wear it out. When silk dresses were
made of pure silk a woman would wear a silk dress all her
life, then give it to her daughter and this daughter would
give it to her daughter and the dress would still be good.
But raw silk costs several dollars a pound and so men tried
to find something they could add to the silk and make
cheaper goods. They tried adding a little in the way of
cotton and woollen threads, but this did not work, as the
goods did not look as fine and the wool and cotton would
wear out or rot so quickly that the whole dress would be
gone in a short time. Then some man found out that he
could add a little sugar to the dye stuffs used for silks of
light color and a little nut galls to black silks. In this way
he could add two or three ounces to every pound of silk
woven in his mill, and of course he made money, for sugar
and nut galls cost only a few cents a pound. This worked
very well, but the silk manufacturers went too far, especially
when they found that a salt of tin could be added and a
great deal more than of either sugar or nut galls. Fashions
kept changing and this meant cutting up a silk dress from
one pattern to another; so people wanted cheaper silks and
84 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
they got what they wanted, but the stuff they bought was
more tin than silk; in fact, sometimes there would be four
times more tin than silk. Dresses made of this material do
not last long; in fact, some of the stuff dresses were to be
made of would rot on the shelves before a dressmaker got
hold of it. So of late years less tin has been used and good
silks have little of it.
When the worm makes its cocoon it spins a thin silk
thread and in doing so uses some gum, sometimes more and
sometimes less. This gum cannot be used in weaving silk
and must be boiled off. Of course the less gum there is in
raw silk the more is the silk worth. So when a bale of silk
arrives at the store of a man selling raw silk, it is examined
to find out how much gum the worms used in making the
silk. This is called "conditioning," and this fixes the real or
market value of the silk.
THE LOCOMOTIVE INDUSTRY.
One of the principal industries in Paterson in past
years was, and to some extent still is, the making of loco-
motives. How did the men in early Paterson come to make
locomotives? There is an interesting story in the answer to
this question. Up to 1832 all locomotives were made in
England. The railroad, which had been built a short time
before between Paterson and Jersey City, wanted a locomo-
tive and so bought one in England. It was put into boxes in
England and sent to this country and the railroad people
sent it to a shop along the raceway in Paterson; Thomas
Rogers was one of the partners who owned this machine
shop. Rogers was to put the locomotive together so that it
could be used ; he did so, but he first made a pattern of every
piece of it. In less than a year he had a locomotive just like
the one that had been sent here from England. On October
6, 1837, he and some of his friends used the locomotive for
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 85
an excursion to New Brunswick, by way of Jersey City.
The engine worked just as well as had the one that came
from England and Mr. Rogers saw that he could make a
great deal of money out of making locomotives. He cer-
tainly did so and left a great deal of money to his son,
Jacob S. Rogers, and this son in turn made more money by
making more locomotives.
But Rogers could not have this industry all to himself.
Other men began to build locomotives and in a few years
the Grant Locomotive works and the Danforth Locomotive
& Machine Company, afterwards the Cooke Locomotive
Works, were making locomotives, the three shops together
sometimes turning out as many as thirty locomotives in a
month. The Grant works failed and the machinery was
moved to Chicago. The Cooke works were moved from
lower Market street down towards Lake View, along the
tracks of the Erie railroad. It was then that the American
Locomotive company bought all the locomotive works in
the country, and even some in Canada, excepting one in
Philadelphia and the Rogers works in Paterson. Mr. Rogers,
Jacob S., would not sell; but he was getting old and had
plenty of money and did not want to bother making more ;
so in 1900 he concluded that he would shut up his works and
he did so. They were bought by some men in New York
who in turn sold them to the American Locomotive Com-
pany and this company moved the machinery to the Cooke
works, which they had bought some time before. So Pater-
son today has only one locomotive works instead of three.
Jacob S. Rogers died worth a great deal of money. In
his will he left a little of it to some relatives — he was never
married — but nearly all of it, five million dollars, went to
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park, New
York. So the money Mr. Rogers and his men made in Pat-
erson was lost to Paterson forever.
86 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
There is an interesting story connected with the success
the Rogers, father and son, had in making locomotives.
Jacob S. Rogers one day told this story as follows: "In Eng-
land, in fact all over Europe, they make locomotives as stiff
and solid as if they had been cast out of one solid piece of
metal. When a locomotive is put on a road and it is found
that the locomotive cannot go around a curve because the
locomotive is too long and stiff, they take up the road and
straighten out the curve. I build locomotives just the other
way. Instead of building the road to suit the locomotive, I
build the locomotive to suit the road. The English say that
my locomotives are wobbly and they call them basket work,
but that is just the kind of locomotives I want to build.
Show me the road and I will build an engine to suit it.
Instead of fastening big wheels to a stiff and heavy body, I
put the body loosely on the wheels, so that the body can
move around a little when the engine goes around a curve.
The result is that a road can be built a great deal cheaper
for my engines than for English engines. It costs me a
tariff of forty cents for every dollar's worth of steel and iron
I get from England, and I have got to go to England for my
steel and iron, but I am selling engines to Englishmen in
Canada and Australia and other British possessions. The
English in England would not have any of my engines, for
they are used to their own and their railroads are built for
their engines, but I can sell engines all over the rest of the
world. The English do not like to be taught by an Ameri-
can ; some day they will find out that I am right, but when
that time comes I shall not want to build any more locomo-
tives."
OTHER WORKERS IN IRON.
Some years ago there were two large iron manufactur-
ing establishments, one on each side of the Erie tracks near
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 87
Lake View, the Paterson Iron Company and the Passaic
Rolling Mill. Franklin C. Beckwith made a success of the
Paterson Iron Company, for in his day there was no rolling
mill with big steam hammers in this part of the country.
When the shaft of a large steamer broke and it was necessary
to get another, this had to be done in a hurry in order that
the steamer might get to sea again as quickly as possible.
To send far out West for a new shaft meant a great deal of
delay and was unsatisfactory because the men who owned
the steamer could not see to it themselves that the shaft
was made just as they wanted it. So Mr. Beckwith made
these shafts and he got for them almost any price he asked.
What was true of the broken shaft of a steamer was true
also of many other broken large pieces of iron and Mr.
Beckwith's establishment was kept busy most of the time.
But when railroads ran faster trains out West and when
other rolling mills with big steam hammers started into
business in this part of the country, the business of the Pat-
erson Iron Company fell off and it was closed in 1897. The
place it occupied is now used by the Erie railroad for a
yard.
Watts Cooke founded the Passaic Rolling Mill. He
had been a superintendent on the Delaware, Lackawanna
& Western railroad and he thought he could make money
by building bridges for railroads. He was right, for he built
a great many bridges and he did so according to a plan
which was new at that time. When men wanted a bridge
built the work was done by a number of laborers and black-
smiths at the place where the bridge was to be erected.
After the piers of the bridge were up came a long job with
iron. The iron had to be forged and put into shape and then
put together. Watts Cooke went to work in a different way.
The piers had to be built at the stream, because they could
not be built anywhere else and then moved to the stream,
but the bridge itself was built in Paterson. A little bridge,
88 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
like a toy bridge, was made of small pieces of wood, each
piece fitting just where it belonged. Then the real bridge,
of heavy iron, was made after the little model and it is easy
to see that this could be done a great deal cheaper and better
in works where they had big furnaces and forges and steam
riveting machines than on the banks of a distant stream.
The bridge was put together in the yard of the works, with-
out being fastened together; then it was taken down and
shipped to where the bridge was to stand; the subsequent
work of putting it together amounted to very little com-
pared to what had to be done under the old plan. The
Passaic Rolling Mill built a large part of the elevated rail-
roads in New York, the Seventh Regiment armory, the
Washington bridge over the Harlem river and many of the
bridges in Passaic county and other parts of the country.
At the death of Watts Cooke in 1908 the works passed into
other hands.
MAKING LINEN THREAD.
The history of the Barbour flax spinning works in Pat-
erson is not as interesting as is the history of other industries
in this city, for it was only a matter of putting money
where more could be made. Four of the Barbour brothers
had been making linen thread in Lisburn, Ireland. They
sold a great deal of their thread in this country, but the
price was high on account of the tariff they had to pay to
get the thread into the country. So two of the brothers,
Thomas and Robert, came to this country in 1864, and
began making thread in Paterson. They bought a mill in
which John Colt had made calico, but this soon proved too
small for them. In 1877 they built a mill on Grand street ;
the next year they doubled it and so they kept on adding to
it until the mill grew to be as big as it is now. Thomas
»nd Robert are both dead. Thomas left a son, William, who
STRUGGLE FOR INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY 89
succeeded his father; he lived most of the time in New
York, but he was always a good friend to Paterson, where
he spent a great deal of his money, a large part going to the
hospitals and other charitable institutions. His sons now
run the works, for William Barbour died March 1, 1917.
Robert Barbour left a son, J. Edwards Barbour, who for
many years managed the Paterson mills. In 1909 he began
to manufacture for himself and he now has a mill at Lake
View and another in AUentown, Pa.
Municipal Administration
Municipal Administration
In the early days of this part of New Jersey all the
ground now covered by the city of Paterson was in the
township of Acquackanonk and this township was in Essex
county. Paterson was first put on the map as a township
in 1831 as a part of Essex county. On February 7, 1837,
the lawmakers of New Jersey passed a law which created
the county of Passaic by taking the township of Acquacka-
nonk from Essex county and a large part of the township
of Saddle River from Bergen county.
THE CITY OF PATERSON.
When Paterson became a township the people here were
very poor and money was so scarce that even a rich man
of those days would be considered poor today. Some idea
of what money was worth in those days may be gained from
the fact that the counsel of the township, Daniel Barkalow,
one of the most prominent lawyers Passaic county produced,
was satisfied with a salary of ten dollars for a whole year's
work. The voters every year decided how much money
should be spent for the various branches of the government,
until in 1849 when they decided not to spend another dollar
for any purpose. There was no money for the poor, for the
streets, for the schools or for anything else. The poormaster
had paid ten dollars a year rent for the poor house and had
received one dollar a week for the board of each of the
poor; the authorities sold the poor house. The township
owned what was known as the "town lot," over four and
seven-tenths acres at what is now Broadway and East Eigh-
94 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATBRSON HISTORY
teenth street; this was sold for eight hundred dollars. At
the regular election in 1850 the voters again decided in
favor of no taxes; a special election was held and the result
was the same; everything seemed at a standstill when
another election was called and the voters agreed to spend
fifty dollars for the support of the poor for one year and
they would not agree to give a dollar for any other purpose.
What little money was used for the government came from
the pockets of men who were willing to loan it to the town-
ship and trust to the honor of the people to pay it back
some time in the future.
But there came a change, for there was more work, the
factories being busy. Th people decided in 1851 by a vote
of 772 to 330 to change the township into a city and the
government passed into the hands of a council, the president
of which was pretty much what the mayor became in after
years. There were three wards and their boundaries were
very simple. All of Paterson lying east of Main street and
north of Market was the East ward ; all west of Main street
and north of Market was the West ward and the rest of the
city was the South ward. In 1854 the city reached out and
added what is now the First and Second wards of the city,
excepting the land lying north of Totowa avenue and west
of the Oldham brook; this strip was added the following
year and the whole made into the North ward. The Fifth
ward was made the same year by taking from the South
ward all east of Cross and Marshall streets. The title of the
government was changed to "The Mayor and Aldermen of
the City of Paterson," and large leather badges were pro-
vided for the aldermen; these badges indicated the ward
the bearer represented and were in use for a number of
years. In 1869 the city took enough real estate from the
township of Acquackanonk to make the city's southerly
line Crooks avenue and the westerly line West Twenty-
Seventh street.
-x
\ss^
Paterson's First City Hall
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION 95
THE FIRST CITY HALL.
In 1869 the aldermen thought it would be very nice for
the Paterson of the future if the city had a park in its
centre and a city hall in the centre of the park. So they
appointed a commission to buy the property bounded by
Market, Ellison, Colt and Church streets. Some of the tax-
payers thought this was going too far and they went to
court about it; the court decided that the aldermen had no
right to give to others the powers which the legislature had
given only to the aldermen ; the aldermen might buy prop-
erty for the city but they could not get others to attend to
that matter for them. As so many taxpayers had shown
that they objected to having a park in the centre of the
city, the aldermen satisfied themselves by buying a building
for a city hall. The building they bought had been erected
by Peter Colt in 1814 as a residence for himself; he had
used in its construction the brown stone taken from the
walls of the large mill owned by the Society but which had
burned down. The Colt residence was two stories high and
stood where the police station stands now. From its front
entrance a large lawn reached down to Main street. The
aldermen cut down the hill in front of the building and the
street thus made is now called Washington. This left the
building high up in the air and so the aldermen built another
story under it. In the picture of the building the former
entrance can be easily distinguished over the entrance built
afterwards. The building was used by the city officers until
the present city hall was erected. It was destroyed in the
great fire in 1902.
THE PRESENT CITY HALL.
In 1891 the city celebrated the centennial of its found-
ing. A part of this celebration was the beginning of the
erection of the present city hall. Where that building now
96 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
stands stood formerly St. Paul's Episcopal church ; this had
a little city block all to itself, Colt street separating it on
the north from an old hotel, the Hamilton House, and a
row of oflBces. The church, hotel and offices were removed
to make room for the present city hall. The fire in 1902
burned out the inside of the new building, but did not
destroy the walls. Until the interior of the city hall could
be repaired and fitted up the city offices were scattered about
in many different places, the court house, post office, Entre
Nous lyceum, the lecture room of the First Presbyterian
church and other places.
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
In 1884 the people of Paterson voted in favor of a public
library. Five citizens were appointed by the mayor and^
they began work by renting a building on Church street,
between Market and Ellison streets. Then came the offer
of a site. Mrs. Mary E. Ryle, the daughter of Charles Dan-
forth, one of the prominent locomotive builders of Paterson,
and widow of William Ryle, a wealthy silk importer, wanted
to do something in memory of her father. The residence
occupied by the Danforth family for many years stood on
the northeast corner of Market and Church streets. This
Mrs. Ryle offered to give to the library trustees and of
course her offer was gratefully accepted. The only condi-
tion Mrs. Ryle made was that the library should be named
after her father and to this day it is known as the Danforth
Free Public Library. Mrs. Ryle, however, was not satisfied
with what she had done and so she paid all the expenses
incurred in making her former home a convenient place for
a library. When the building and its contents were de-
stroyed in the fire of 1902, and the trustees decided to put
up a new building on Broadway, Auburn and Van Houten
streets, Mrs. Ryle contributed one hundred thousand dollars
towards paying the expenses.
Paterson's First Public Library Building
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION 97
PURCHASE OF PARKS.
The Board of Aldermen in 1888 purchased the Eastside
and Westside parks and then passed them into the custody
of a board appointed for that purpose by the mayor. A
number of smaller parks have since been added in various
parts of the city, the largest being the former Pennington
homestead lying opposite Westside park.
CHANGES IN THE CITY GOVERNMENT.
The legislature of 1907 provided that the mayor of
Paterson should appoint Commissioners of Finance, of
Public Works and of Police and Fire. The Board of Finance
divides up the money received from the taxpayers among
the various branches of the city government and looks after
the money interests of the city ; without the approval of the
Board of Finance no bills, excepting those of the Board of
Education, can be paid. The Board of Public Works looks
after the public buildings, the streets and such matters. The
title of the board is enough to show the work looked after
by the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.
There is an interesting incident connected with the in-
troduction of the first steam fire engine in Paterson. For
many years the firemen of the city received no pay for the
work they did and each company tried to do better than any
of the others. Their principal means of putting out fires
were hand engines. In 1860 Washington Engine Company
No. 3, located on Prospect street, near Ellison, asked the
aldermen to buy a steam engine for it, agreeing to contribute
a thousand dollars out of the company's treasury towards
the cost. Steam engines were something new and none of
the aldermen had ever seen any. Engine Company No. 3
was not satisfied with the inaction of the aldermen and, in
98 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
order to show the people of Paterson the kind of work a
steam engme could do, they had one brought from New
York. There was a big crowd present when the engine was
set to work pumping at one of the raceways in the lower
part of the city. All were surprised and many were ready
to help buy the machine, so that $1,400 was subscribed on
the spot. Had it not been for the war Engine Company
No. 3 would have obtained that engine, but when the Union
needed men so many of the fire fighters enlisted that little
attention was paid to the fire department. After the war
was over the members of Passaic Engine Company No. 1,
whose house was on Van Houten street, nearly opposite to
where fire headquarters are today, thought they would get
ahead of No. 3 and so they circulated a petition among
prominent men asking the aldermen to buy a steam fire
engine for Engine Company No. 1. Those who had charge
of the petition and those who signed it were made to promise
not to tell anybody what was being done, for the men of
No. 1 were afraid that the men of No. 3 might spoil their
plans, for it was known that No. 3 also wanted an engine.
One of the men of No. 1 told the secret to his wife and she
blabbed it the next morning to her next door neighbor, who
was the wife of a member of No. 3. The rest of the story
need hardly be told. The petition from No. 3, hurriedly
prepared, was granted by the aldermen while the men of
No. 1 were still looking for signatures to their petition. And
so it came to pass that Engine Company No. 3 was the first
company of the old volunteer department to have a steam
fire engine.
The change from the volunteer department to the paid
department was gradual. First the aldermen gave a few
hundred dollars to each fire company every year; then the
captain and engineer were paid and then followed the ap-
pointment of paid call men, the latter being members of the
department who worked at their usual occupations until a
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION 99
fire alarm was sounded when they dropped everything and
hurried to the scene of the fire. Finally came the present
department with its large force of men and the best of fire
fighting machines.
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
It is not at all certain that Guiliaem Bertholf taught
school in 1693 in what is now Paterson, but it is likely that
he did. In one of his letters he refers to himself as ''the
pastor of the churches of Hackensack and Acquackanonk,
the resident schoolmaster and consoler of the sick." As
Paterson, before it was called Paterson, was a part of Ac-
quackanonk, the chances are that the school teachers of
Paterson today are the successors of Rev. Mr. Bertholf. The
Acquackanonk church records tell of a man named James
Billington, who was a schoolmaster, and who was married
in 1742, the name of his bride being Anna America. Perhaps
Mr. Billington taught school somewhere in what is now
Paterson. There was a school in 1768 at Pompton and in
1775 at Singac; in 1802 there was a log school house near
what is now Athenia — schools all about Paterson but none
in Paterson.
Just when the first school was built in Paterson is not
known but records tell of school being taught before 1820
in a building which stood near where the Market street
bridge now crosses into Bergen county. There were several
school teachers there, one after another, and some of the
pupils were ferried across the river from Bergen county, for
there was no bridge there at that time. The teacher and
his family lived in the same building in which he taught
school; there were several classes and each was taught for
three hours in the forenoon and three hours in the after-
noon ; there was a half holiday every Saturday and later on
a whole holiday on Saturday, but there were no vacations.
100 FOUR CHAPTERS OF PATERSON HISTORY
But before this time the Society for Establishing Useful
Manufactures had done something towards education. In
1794 the superintendent of the Society reported to the
directors that a number of children would be taken out of-
the Society's factory by their parents unless something was
done in the way of teaching these children. So the directors
told the superintendent to employ a schoolmaster to teach
these children on Sundays. This was probably done, for two
years later the Society gave John Wright, schoolmaster,
the use of a house in which to teach school. But before
John Wright began to teach, Miss Sarah Colt had started
a Sunday school and she carried it on for a number of years;
she was the daughter of the Society's superintendent and
was only twelve years of age when she began to teach. It
may seem curious in these days that reading, writing and
arithmetic should be taught in Sunday schools, but the
teaching of these branches of education was the main object
of Sunday schools in the early days of Paterson. Even as
late as 1822 the Paterson Union Sunday School Society de-
clared that its object was teaching "the rudiments of the
English language, religion and morality."
In 1814 the Society gave a lot on the southeast comer
of Market and Union streets for the purpose of education
and the building there was occupied by the Paterson Acad-
emy, which had been started some three years previous. It
was in this building that the first free school, that is, a school
at the expense of the public, was begun in 1827, the lower
floor of the building being rented for $2.50 per month, but
it was understood that the school was only for the benefit
of the children of the poor. The cost of education in Pat-
erson in 1831 was only $300 and in 1835 the school trustees
got along with $200, this sum including all expenses. These
schools were called "free schools for the poor" and it was
not until 1847 that the words "for the poor" were dropped
from the title. Even then it required a permit from the
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION 101
school trustees before a child could enter school and no
family could send more than one child without paying a
tuition fee. Children were required to furnish their own
books and stationery.
In 1837 the school trustees rented the basement of the
Cross street Methodist church and in this same basement
the first session of the Passaic county courts was held.
While court was in session the children played. School was
next held in the basement of a Baptist church in Broadway,
afterwards the German Presbyterian church. The school
was then moved to the corner of Union and Smith streets;
this building was burned down in 1846 and the school went
back to the basement of the Cross street church. In 1848
the trustees bought a lot on the south side of Ellison street,
between Main and Prospect streets; there was already a
building on the lot, but another was erected in the rear ; the
lower floor of this was used as a private school ; the public
school was held upstairs and among the pupils who attended
was the late William J. Rogers, who was subsequently super-
intendent of the schools in Paterson for a number of years.
The records do not tell what the school hours were but they
do say that these hours began at six o'clock in the morning.
Progress in building schools — and also in attending
them — ^now became rapid until there was established our
present large and efl&cient system. Under the city charter
of 1871 the members of the Board of Education were elected
annually by voters, two from each ward ; this was done away
with by the legislature in 1902, since which time the mem-
bers of the board have been appointed by the mayor of the
city.
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